the Guardian
by Aikuchi Shikaku
Summary: Uzumaki Kushina passed on her clan's legacy on baby Naruto before she ‘died’. When Naruto was mad enough to access the Kyuubi's chakra during his fight with Haku, her own fail-safe kicked in, turning Naruto into a Kamen Rider. Undergoing Revisions
1. Henshin

The Guardian

Summary: Uzumaki Kushina passed on her clan's legacy on baby Naruto before she 'died'. When Naruto was mad enough to access Kyuubi's chakra during the battle for wave's bridge her own fail-safe kicked in, instead gathering the Kyuubi's chakra into another power-source and turning Naruto into whirlpool's guardian, a kamen rider. KamenRider!Naruto. NarutoxFemHakuxHinatax? Kamen Rider 555 Elements X Naruto.

Chapter 1: Henshin

Uzumaki Naruto looked down on his teammate and rival's corpse, riddled with senbon, as the chilly atmosphere inside the dome made out of ice mirrors filled the air with a howl, similar to a funeral dirge. He looked upon the reflections of his somewhat friend's killer, the slits of a Kirigakure Oi-nin mask hiding the the cold and calculating eyes of Momochi Zabuza's accomplice, who is now currently deadlocked with his sensei in a game of cat and mouse.

"He never would have died if he didn't block the killing blow that was meant for you. You do know that, right? He died like a true shinobi, protecting his precious people." The hunter-nin looked down on the prone body of Uchiha Sasuke, as Naruto's head bent down, and snorted.

"What do you know about him? And what do you know about me to have the right to say those things?" the hunter-nin was taken aback as the blonde looked at his teammate's body, and turned his attention to the one who killed his rival, gazing at him with hate filled eyes.

"There's only one thing I know right now…"He paused as an unfamiliar feeling welled up from the pit of his stomach, clawing, burning up through his stomach and attempting to surround his body and senses with bloodlust, a need to kill, a need to spill blood, to maim.

"I…"He bulled through as the feelings intensified, while wisps of malevolent, crimson chakra tried to take him over, to revel in the release and finality of being freed.

"**Will…"**The bloodlust was nearly overwhelming him, telling him to break the human in front of him to pieces, to spill its lifeblood, to ravage it and rend the body in twain, before the bloodlust was driven away with another light, and he felt himself being pulled in…

He was suddenly aware of standing in the doorway of a cozy room, a brilliant white light shined behind him from an open door, while he heard the sounds of a lullaby being sung by a very feminine voice, and as he stepped in, the light from behind him died down as the door closed. He then heard the voice, a mere whisper, invite him in to the center of the room, and without any hesitation, he obeyed, as he stepped into the warm atmosphere of what he recognized to be a nursery in the final stages of completion.

"Well now, I've been expecting you to use the fur-ball's chakra, but not this soon…" His musings interrupted suddenly, he slowly turned to the direction of the feminine voice, which had now stopped it's singing, and saw a female form that was silhouetted in darkness, while sitting in a rocking chair placed in a corner of the room.

As if on cue, the darkness was driven away from the silhouette, and revealed a woman in her middle twenties. Rich, vibrant, and long red hair framed her face, one of her bangs was held back by a single hair pin on the left side of her head. She had the slightly rounded and healthy face of a woman in pregnancy, dressed in maternity clothes of fine cotton and contrasting colors of black and white. She was looking at him intently, her green-eyed gaze taking in all of his features as she beckoned for him to approach her. Naruto didn't understand what he was feeling, as he walked to her, and let him be embraced by her warm arms, as if he had finally come home.

Then, realization dawned on him, and he now knew the woman who was embracing him, as it hit him like a ton of bricks.

"…Okaa-san?" He asked hesitantly, while the woman nodded, and smiled as tears filled her eyes, which Naruto mirrored in his own cerulean orbs. He then hesitantly asked a question, which might break his heart.

"Is all of this real?" He asked with all the hope he suppressed in his very eventful childhood, and was devastated when she shook her head.

"Unfortunately, all that you see right now, even me, is an illusion, a memory recently unlocked inside your mind, but that is neither here, nor there. I have something very important to tell you, so just suck it up like a true Uzumaki, and listen to me for a moment. Can you at least do that for your mother?" Naruto nodded as he found a chair and sat beside his mother, as he was now too big for her to carry, and impossible with her as pregnant as she is.

As he settled down, his mother took a deep breath, and began to speak. "Well, as you have discovered, I am your mother, Naruto, and my name is Uzumaki Kushina. What you are seeing and feeling right now is a memory I that I have recorded in a seal, and if I know you as I know myself, you're practically bursting at the seams with questions right now, but please hold off on them until I finish." Naruto pouted at her mother, whom he had accepted as being real, as right now he can't picture her as a piece of memory or something else.

Kushina smiled at him for a second, and then her gaze narrowed as he felt himself sweat for the first time in his life for an action that he had not put much thought into, after he had done said action. As he nervously rubbed the back of his head, his mother softened her look, and switched it for something that made him feel even worse: a look of disappointment and reproach.

"Musuko, it was a very stupid move to almost let the Kyuubi's chakra take over you, not knowing the consequences of letting him take over your mind and body like that. He could have completely overwhelmed you, and you wouldn't have even remembered what you did until after your father's seal stopped its chakra." As she spoke, he felt like a heel for letting his emotions get the best of him, and then felt the horror of realizing what would have happened to everyone on the bridge if he had truly let go of his control over the seal, especially the fate of his teammates. He looked back up at his mother, sorrow and remorse on his face as his mother embraced him, shivers and sobs wracking his body.

As his sobs became sniffles and his shivers stopped, he looked up at his mother with eyes full of emotion and deep regret, the emotions in his eyes telling her that he was sorry for what he almost did. Kushina wiped his flowing eyes with her hands and kissed his forehead, telling him that all was forgiven, while Naruto looked on in wonderment at receiving this kind of affection.

Kushina smiled at him and resumed speaking. "As it didn't happen, I forgive you Naruto-kun, but you'll have to apologize to your sensei and teammates for endangering their lives, if you had lost control to the Kyuubi." Naruto nodded sadly and silently told her that he'll apologize after the battle was over. Kushina nodded and glanced around the room to gather her thoughts. Her first words were a question to her son.

"Do you know about whirlpool country and the legacy of its guardians?" Naruto shook his head. Kushina's face was marred with a frown, while she instinctively stroked her son's head. "When you return to Konoha, go to the Third's office and demand that he hand over my legacy and techniques, they'll be quite useful to you once you practice them." Naruto nodded his assent, as his mother continued her tale.

"Uzu no Kuni was a small country. Located near Iwagakure, we were always weary about invasions and the sort coming from them. But they and other people, who wished to subdue us, dared not attack, because our clan, the Uzumaki Clan, besides being a fearsome lot, had a legacy that has stretched out for hundreds of years. That, my son, is the legacy of the Kamen Riders."

"It is a legend that has been passed down from generations, that there are three suits of power armor worn by the Uzumaki Clan, which has driven away raiding parties and lords threatening to conquer Uzu no kuni. Time and again, the country has relied on the armors to defend them from attack…" Kushina paused as she looked at her son, who gave her his undivided attention. She chuckled as she continued her tale, all the while pulling her son in closer to her warm embrace.

"The legends are true, but only to a minor extent. The Uzumaki clan does have these suits of power armor, but they have only been used to drive back invaders once or thrice, and that the real power of Uzu no kuni came from its very skilled ninja, who were trained to be skillful from the earliest time they can hold a weapon and mold their chakra. Their real purpose is to prevent another race of evolved humans from completely taking over the world, although their plans and moves are always being thwarted because of the power of shinobi and chakra, which they don't understand. These evolved humans are called Orphnochs, and we Uzumaki are descended from a branch of them, so we do have Orphnoch DNA, but we do not transform into evolved orphnoch forms. It is this dna that we use to wield the Rider Gears, to protect humanity from any threat, human, orphnoch, or otherwise.

"A month before the kyuubi made its way to konoha, I was informed that Uzu no kuni had been lost to the sea, due to the kyuubi's powers creating a localized earthquake near it, the earthquake in turn, created a tsunami, which struck whirlpool in a one-two blow. I knew then that the power of the rider gears had been lost, as its power base had been inside the clan compound.

"But before you were to be born three weeks before I made this memory, I received a package from my uncle, the last surviving member of the Uzumaki clan. The package's contents were an interesting discovery, if you can call possessing one of the de-powered gears and its weapons interesting enough." Kushina let out a snort of laughter, as she grinned at her son, who smiled back at her.

"I inscribed a seal to house this memory in your mind while you were still in my womb. After a while, I also made a simple seal array to bind the rider gear that I received to your body. I did this so that when the time came, it will be so settled in your body that it will become a part of you after the three weeks were up. As your father's wife I was only mildly interested in the sealing arts, but he taught me enough to be good at reading seals and making them, making me a certified sealing adept. After receiving news that the kyuubi was on its way, I simply added a final seal after you were born, so that the excess parts of kyuubi's chakra that didn't filter through the seal will be redirected through my sealing array and into the rider gear. This seal combination in turn created a fail-safe, but not a critical fail-safe. I have to tell you, son, your father was a genius seal master and ninja, but he was sometimes short-sighted, and never focused on the initial details." Kushina paused for a moment as she remembered Minato's memory. She then turned her gaze back to her now grown son.

"Why did I do all of this, you ask? I don't know if I survived or not, but I did this so that you would not be tempted to use your bijuu's power, and as you have the most powerful bijuu inside you, I had no choice but to do this in order to keep you safe; as I know the moment you were born and when the kyuubi was attacking, that minato will sacrifice you for some noble cause that you can't squirm you way out of, as you are a son of a Kage. Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage-sama of Konohagakure no Sato was your father, Naruto-kun…" Naruto's eyes bugged out as he gasped in revelation of his father's name and what he meant to the people of Konoha. Kushina only nodded as a teardrop made its way from her eyes in remembrance of her lost love, which Naruto wiped in a reversal of gestures not a moment ago. Mother and son spoke no words, but the love in their eyes told them enough to understand each other.

"I was interested in hidden world history when I was your age son, and the lives of the other jinchuuriki that I have read of always ended in a gruesome demise, because they were tempted and coerced by their bijuu to use their power, and in time, it corrupted their minds so that they always used their bijuu's power to even out the odds that they found themselves in. I didn't want you to live that kind of life, so I placed this fail-safe seal/barrier and memory between you and the kyuubi, and bound you to the rider gear, so that you have an alternative way of saving the people that you love. That is the essence of whirlpool's guardian: to protect, to fight, and guard what you know is justice. That is a Kamen Rider.

"As I've told you before, this is the memory I placed inside your mind, which would join the seal your father created, to create an initial fail-safe in case you used the Kyuubi's chakra, it was also intended to siphon the chakra that Kyuubi let out and into the rider gear that will greatly help you in your ninja career-"

Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by a digitized beeping, and another noise, which ended in a digitized voice saying **"Ready".** Kushina let out a cheer, as a red glow enveloped the corner on the other side of the room. Standing up from her rocking chair, she held Naruto's hand as they walked (in her case waddled, as she was almost nine months pregnant in the memory) to the source of the glow. Naruto noticed that aside from the red glowing humanoid figure, it was also joined by two other figures which were not moving and glowing. Finally, Naruto reached the corner of the room with Kushina, and noticed that the figure, which he was now looking at directly, had red lines all over its body. The humanoid also had large, bright yellow and glowing eyes. He was mesmerized by the figure in front of him, when Kushina had interrupted his musings with a clearing of her throat.

"Well, it seems that my gamble has paid off! Naruto-kun, meet your new alter-ego, and partner-in-crime in the business of saving Konoha, or possibly the world for that matter. This is your power suit of armor: Kamen Rider 555, or Faiz." Kushina spread her hands as if she was showing off a new weapon or a new technique, as the figure, now known as Faiz, looked at Naruto and nodded, extending out his gloved hand with a metal-like material at the tips of its fingers. Naruto was about to grasp Faiz' hand, when Kushina interrupted him.

"Before you shake his hand, son, there are a few more things that I need to tell you, and that because my fail-safe has been tripped, it will stay active, and you can simply will yourself to this memory, if you ever need me to ask further questions about anything that my memory knows." Kushina paused, as Naruto realized that he'll be leaving this memory-scape when he shook the hand of Faiz.

"Will I ever see you alive in the real world?" Naruto asked hopefully at the memory of his mother. Kushina sighed and hugged her son.

"I don't know what the future holds, but always know that Minato and I, wherever our souls may be at this moment, have loved you from the moment we found out that I was pregnant with you. You were always showered with love by us and our extended family. And if we had lived, or in the case of your father, had he lived, you would have never suffered as you have in your life." Kushina sniffled as he held off another bout of tears. Naruto however was stunned at the knowledge that the memory of her mother somehow 'knew' his life.

"If I wasn't happy by carrying you in my womb for nine months, I'd have quickly gotten this pregnancy over with! Damn hormones! Now off with you!" Kushina laughed as Naruto had a few tearful hiccups of his own. The mother-son duo had another tearful hug and farewell, as they would be seeing each other more often. Then, with one last look at his mother, he nodded at Faiz, and shook his hand.

As before, a bright, hazy, and fast light enveloped him, before he realized that he was still standing in the same position before, but now he felt something new, yet strangely familiar in his right hand, and that another thing, heavy, metallic, and also felt familiar was strapped to his waist.

From her vantage point in the mirrors, Haku was initially overwhelmed by the bloodlust and the wisps of crimson chakra coming from her opponent. But the bloodlust was suddenly sucked inside her adversary's stomach, and a bright light engulfed him. As the light faded, the boy was still there, having never changed position.

There was something different about him, however…

Naruto instinctively opened up the device in his right hand, and looked at the display on the top part. Having recognized it as the Faiz Phone, he quickly dialed the henshin code: pressing 5, 5, 5 and the Enter Button on the Faiz Phone. The phone recognized the code, and said in a digitized voice:

"**Standing By…"**

Naruto then closed the phone as a sound, which he recognized as the waiting sound for the henshin sequence, played in the background. He then raised the phone instinctively, as he held it up in the air, and said:

"Henshin!"

He then docked the Faiz phone in its docking cradle on the faiz driver, a click sounded, and he placed the phone horizontally on the driver itself, and the buckle was completed. The digitized voice acknowledged the docking of the phone to the driver, which said.

"**COMPLETE"**

Chapter End.

A/N: Let me know what you think. Further A/N's next chapter.


	2. Faiz vs Haku, 1st Orphnoch Encounter

The Guardian

Summary: Uzumaki Kushina passed on her clan's legacy on baby Naruto before she 'died'. When Naruto was mad enough to access Kyuubi's chakra during the battle for wave's bridge her own fail-safe kicked in, instead gathering the Kyuubi's chakra into another power-source and turning Naruto into whirlpool's guardian, a Kamen rider. KamenRider!Naruto. NarutoxFemHakuxHinatax? Kamen Rider 555 Elements X Naruto.

Last time on the Guardian:

_Naruto instinctively opened up the device in his right hand, and looked at the display on the top part. Having recognized it as the Faiz Phone, he quickly dialed the henshin code: pressing 5, 5, 5 and the Enter Button on the Faiz Phone. The phone recognized the code, and said in a digitized voice:_

"_**Standing By…"**_

_Naruto then closed the phone as a sound, which he recognized as the waiting sound for the henshin sequence, played in the background. He then raised the phone instinctively, as he held it up in the air, and said:_

"_Henshin!"_

_He then docked the Faiz phone in its docking cradle on the faiz driver, a click sounded, and he placed the phone horizontally on the driver itself, and the buckle was completed. The digitized voice acknowledged the docking of the phone to the driver, which said._

"_**COMPLETE"**_

Chapter 2: Naruto fights as Faiz, and 1st Orphnoch Encounter.

Glowing lines of crimson flowed out from the four corners of the faiz driver, flowing around Naruto's torso first, the bottom lines flowing down towards his thighs, knees, legs and feet, while two lines coming from the top of the buckle made a curve on top of his seal. The crimson lines further traveled up to his chest and sternum, which joined as one line on his back. Lines also flowed to his shoulders, neck, arms, elbows, arms, and separated into arrow-like figures on his hands. After that a bright light surrounded him. As all of this was happening, the faiz driver made beeping and other digitized sounds while in the process of transforming Naruto into the faiz suit of power armor.

Inside the dome of ice mirrors and still surrounded by the thick mists her master had made, Haku watched her opponent go through some weird motions that she didn't recognize as hand seals, so she didn't perceive it as a move or threat against her. It was too late to act as a red light enveloped the buckle that she now recognized as having never been a part of the blonde's arsenal and wardrobe before the bright light engulfed him. Red lines of light now spread through her opponent's body as a bright red light engulfed Naruto, as she now knew his name was. The light got too bright to look at directly, and she shielded her eyes from it, after a few seconds the light faded, and as she turned to look, she was confused at what she saw:

Instead of her blonde opponent, the figure standing there was clad in a black body suit. His shoulders were shielded with a metal-like material she hasn't seen in her life. The same metal-like substance adorned his wrists, lower arms, knees, ankles, legs, and feet. The boots were also lined with the same metal for the sides of the soles. The gauntlets the figure was wearing had the same red lines throughout the hands, and the same metal-like substance coated the first segmented portion of its fingers. The majority of the metal was focused on the chest, a bit bulky, as if protecting something under it, but she observed that it doesn't hamper movement like some of the samurai armor she had seen. She also thought that the armor extended to the back of the figure. This was finished by a helmet which she observed completely hid the user's head, it was a full mask, to hide the user's identity. The prominent thing about the helmet was the closed, insect-like mouth in the same metal-like substance, the extended appendages on the top of the helmet, like an insect's antennae, and the very large, bright yellow eyes, which seemed to be glowing. The red lines she had seen earlier were now prominently displayed throughout the figure's body, some going through the metal material itself. All in all the vision she was seeing was enough to make her hesitate, swallow in nervousness, and grip her senbon tighter in resolution.

Naruto had the feeling of excitement while in the middle of his transformation to Kamen Rider Faiz' suit of power armor. He felt the power coursing throughout his body, and as the transformation sequence finished its course, he found that the world around him was now clearer and more vibrant, as he looked through the visor of his helmet, which he now learned to be the ultimate finder. His eyes narrowed through the ultimate finder as he looked once more at the faux hunter-nin that killed his rival.

I. Faux Hunter–Nin vs. Kamen Rider Faiz

Haku knew in the back of her mind that this was the same opponent she had fought earlier, but he has now changed, _"More like transformed…"_ Haku thought as she spoke to the figure surrounded by her ice mirrors.

"I see that you had something up your sleeve after all this time. It won't matter however, as like your friend, you will die here today." Haku said as she prepared to once again move for another bout with the transformed blonde ninja.

Like another user of Faiz in its own universe, Naruto instinctively flexed, and flicked his wrist and hand, anticipating the next impending round of battle, which started after he made the gesture.

Haku started to move from ice mirror to ice mirror while throwing her senbon, in an attempt to score a hit on her opponent. Naruto was making her frustrated as he seemingly knew where the path of her senbon was going to hit; and dodged accordingly. What senbon Naruto missed only sank a few centimeters in his sol foam body suit, which he shrugged off after each volley, the sol metal only added to her frustrations as her weapons of choice only seemed to bounce off the material.

Naruto kept dodging Haku's volleys of needles as his well-timed bursts of movement were aided by the ultimate finder's wide range of vision. He wasted no excess energy as he moved here and there in an attempt to stave off Haku's large volleys of needles, which would be fatal to meet head on. As he moved the limited x-ray vision on the ultimate finder allowed him to see how Haku sank into one of the ice mirrors. Making a well-thought-of decision, he dodged and jumped Haku's last volley while chasing her as she appeared in mid air. Haku chose another mirror to sink through, as Naruto punched through the mirror which was her intended destination, shattering it in an instant.

Meanwhile inside her ice mirror, Haku was stunned as the now black-clad blonde guessed her attack pattern. She was also nervous as an avenue of attack was closed to her, because of the shattered ice mirror Naruto punched through.

Meanwhile Naruto guessed long ago that the mirrors were the hunter-nin's way of transporting himself. Landing on the ground, he began to shatter his enemy's mirrors one by one, to limit his foe's movement, making 'him' easier to defeat. He then punched the mirror next to him, then a second, and a third mirror followed its destruction as he gave it a vicious kick.

Haku was now getting desperate, as creating those ice mirrors took a lot of chakra out of her. She can't let her trump card fail like this, she needed to protect her master and finish killing the old bridge builder, or their contract with Gato would be canceled. Taking initiative, she pulled out one of her kunai from a hidden pocket of her clothes in one hand, as she threw her senbon at Naruto to distract him. She hissed as Naruto dodged the senbon and threw another punch at a mirror, which shattered like the others before it. But Naruto's dodge and punch left him in the center of the now incomplete dome of ice. Haku switched mirrors and ended up at the top most mirror of the ice dome, and canceled her ability as she let gravity do its work for her.

Naruto watched as his enemy plummeted from the center of the dome, kunai poised to skewer him as the fake oi-nin seemed determined to end the fight with this one blow. He then made a split second decision, and stepped back a pace before jumping up to meet his opponent in the air.

As the two opponents neared each other, Naruto spun his body upwards and extended his right leg, tucking his left leg beside him in an angle. As it seemed that Haku would skewer her opponent with her kunai, naruto adjusted his body slightly in the air, and his right foot passed haku's kunai harmlessly as he delivered a brain-jarring kick to her chin, which continued to her face, the impact of which was mercifully cushioned by her mask, causing it to crack. As haku reeled from the effect of being the first person to experience naruto's rider kick, naruto turned in mid-air, tucked in his right leg, and extended his left leg, kicking the wrist holding the kunai, knocking it away, and twisting the wrist in a bad angle, dislocating her shoulder. As she cried out in pain, naruto completed his combo by spinning vertically, and delivered an overhead soccer kick to her chest, fracturing a few ribs and breaking two of them. The result of this combo redirected haku to one of her undamaged mirrors. She hit the mirror elbow first, which dislocated her other arm from the elbow down, as she went through it. Because of the force of Naruto's kick the mirror shattered completely, and the other mirrors followed suit as haku's control over them was broken from being in so much pain. The mirror thankfully slowed down her fall and absorbed the impact from naruto's final kick, as she finally went down and slid five feet away from the center of the battlefield.

II. Fight End and Aftermath

Naruto landed in a crouch as he observed his handy-work. Several paces from him lay the prone figure of the enemy he had just defeated. He waited for five minutes to see if his opponent would recover from his combo. When he determined that his opponent seemed to be unconscious, he walked from his position to where his foe lay.

Haku was a broken tool, literally and figuratively. Her arms were broken, one dislocated shoulder, a dislocated elbow, several fractured ribs, two broken ribs, most of her ribs bruised, and a pair of useless hands not even good for making one-handed seals. Although her legs and feet were unharmed, she continued to lie there, and her opponent heard the mantra that she was speaking in a whisper.

As Naruto walked over, he heard the voice of his opponent speaking something, as he neared the prone form he heard the fake hunter-nin say:

"Please kill me, I'm a broken and useless tool…Please kill me..."

These words were repeated by the broken ninja lying in front of him. As he crouched in front of his defeated enemy and removed the cracked and broken porcelain mask, he stared unbelievingly at the familiar face of the kind-hearted teenaged boy who greeted him after waking up from an all night training session in a clearing a slight distance from Tazuna's house, which exhausted him enough that he passed out where he stood. The person who taught him all about protecting the ones he loved the most.

"You…you're that guy from two days ago..." Naruto asked in disbelief as the mask revealed the face of Haku.

Haku smiled sadly at him while coughing up a bit of saliva coated with a bit of blood when she bit her tongue when Naruto kicked her chin. "It's me, Naruto-san. I am Haku, the hunter-nin that took Zabuza's seemingly lifeless body, and tricked you into believing that he was dead. Now please kill me, Zabuza-sama has no use for a broken, useless tool like m-"

Naruto growled as he punched Haku in the gut, knocking out what he thought was an older boy. After a few minutes of making sure he was out cold, He checked his condition and the state of his injuries. When he had deemed that his opponent can still survive for a few hours, he returned to the body of Sasuke, and gently lifted his teammate's body from the cold ground of the recently concluded battlefield. He then walked to the direction he remembered where his third teammate was.

As he approached the location of Sakura and Tazuna, his mind was reminiscing about the things team seven did together. Naruto remembered a few good times, and several bad times with team seven. Naruto sighed as he remembered Sasuke treating him like he couldn't measure up to his genius, which he realized, was true. He also remembered how Sakura would berate him by either typical fan-girl violence against the object of her affection, or by insulting him verbally. He also remembered how Kakashi wouldn't teach him anything except to frequently berate him for not honing his chakra control.

Naruto decided then and there to make himself a better ninja and either leave team seven behind as a chuunin or leave when his two other teammates made chuunin, or ask the third Hokage for a team transfer out of Kakashi's team.

Naruto's thoughts then went back on how to tell Sakura that the love of her life was dead, without her blaming him. Giving it up as a lost cause, he simply chose to stay silent as the mists parted, and he saw Sakura and Tazuna still in their spot. He noticed that both were on high guard when they saw him.

Because he was still wearing the faiz armor, Naruto stopped before he hit Sakura's kunai range, and gently laid down the body of Sasuke, before leaving their spot. Naruto could hear Sakura's questions of why he was carrying Sasuke, who or what was he, and the empty threats of what she will do to him if he found out that he was responsible for Sasuke's injuries and why he was not moving, which made him inwardly wince. As he walked further away, Naruto could hear Sakura's cries of anguish as he pictured Sakura holding Sasuke's body in a tearful embrace.

III. Mist's Demon vs. White Fang: the Final Move

Meanwhile back at Kakashi and Zabuza's battleground at the bridge, Kakashi momentarily felt Kyuubi's killing intent and chakra before it disappeared completely from his senses. Zabuza also felt the momentary spike in malevolent chakra for a moment before it was gone. Both turned in the direction where their subordinates were fighting, and looked at each other.

"What the hell was that chakra, Kakashi? Are you hiding some kind of trump card on that black-haired student of yours?" Kakashi, not seeing anything in the mist, retorted back.

"That is none of your business Zabuza. But it seems like one of my students is getting serious over there. So I'll finish this fight of ours, if you don't mind." Pulling out a small scroll from his Jounin vest, he dipped his thumb over the cut in his vest that Zabuza's sword had made in one of their clashes, and swiped the blood in the middle of the scroll. Rolling it up, he did hand seals while making adjustments to the seals he made, because of the scroll he held in his hands. After he was done, Kakashi slammed his hands with the scroll in the ground, and the lines of seals indicating a summoning jutsu was seen on the ground. Kakashi called the technique out quietly so Zabuza wouldn't find his position in the mist, as well as give away that he was using a jutsu.

"**Kuchiyose: Tsuiga no Jutsu! (Summoning: Tracking Fang Technique)"**

Inside the mist, Zabuza was waiting for Kakashi's next move. He was confident, but feeling a bit nervous. He knows that Kakashi can't see him in this thick mist and because of that his sharingan was useless here, so why was he spooked?

Suddenly, Zabuza felt a nearby sound of rumbling, and it was getting closer as he felt the ground shake and saw the concrete floor of the bridge being cracked. He dodged just as the head of a dog appeared from under the ground and attempted to bite him. However as he landed, another dog bit his lower left leg, which was followed by another dog biting his other leg, pinning him to a standing position. While he was being restrained in the legs, other dogs popped out from under the concrete to bite his arms, his upper legs, and a large dog appeared to bite his left shoulder, and pinned him with its weight. One small dog jumped up and bit his scarf, effectively pinning his neck and head. Zabuza was stunned, it was only minutes ago that he was in a stalemate with his opponent, now the tables have turned and he was a sitting duck for whatever Kakashi might have planned for him.

Kakashi stepped into Zabuza's vision as the mists parted slightly because of the missing-nin losing control over it. He was really thankful that the tracking fang was successful, as he didn't have much chakra left with fighting Zabuza and keeping his sharingan active inside the mist.

"How did you find me inside the mist? Your sharingan should have been useless here."

Kakashi gave Zabuza a lazy eye and covered his sharingan once more with his hitai-ate, as his chakra level was very low. He didn't even have a sufficient amount of chakra to summon a raikiri(lightning edge) to finish Zabuza off.

"I'd answer you if I knew that you were going to die today, as dead men tell no tales. But just because I can't kill you right now, doesn't mean I won't if I have to. All I can say to you is that before I got my sharingan, I was raised and trained to be a very good tracker." Zabuza glared back at Kakashi, while biding his time and waiting for his subordinate to save him. After a few minutes however, with no Haku in sight, he hung his head in defeat, and said:

"Alright, you've defeated me. I accept my loss."

The mist dissipated little by little, as Kakashi saw Sakura hugging a non-moving Sasuke, who looked like a pincushion, with the numbers of Haku's senbon embedded in his body. He also noticed, that his female student had not moved from her initial position when she was left behind to protect Tazuna, so he was wondering how she was hugging Sasuke, and how he got to her position. Kakashi was also worried why the Uchiha wasn't moving.

In the meantime, Zabuza saw Haku's unmoving form several feet away from where he had left her to do battle with the black-haired kid. As he took a closer look, he found that Haku's was seriously injured, and was wondering why she wasn't moving from her position. He was also worried that Kakashi's student put her in this state, but with him also unconscious, he seriously doubted the theory that it was the black-haired kid who knocked her out.

Neither man noticed that someone was missing in all of this drama and their musings, however.

Both Jounin-level ninja wanted to go and check if their subordinates were okay. However, that's when the two men heard someone clapping from the other end of the bridge, and said.

"Bravo Zabuza, you have failed to kill the bridge builder, again." A sarcastic congratulatory voice filled the air. A voice which Zabuza knew only belonged to one person.

IV: Gato's double-cross and the Coated Man.

As the mist further cleared, they saw a short man who was wearing a business suit and orange-tinted, round sunglasses. Zabuza recognized him at once, and growled at him, because his appearance at the battlefield was not part of their deal and plan.

"Gato! What are you doing here? You promised me that you would not interfere with my plans!" Zabuza seethed as he looked at his current employer's victorious grin while still being restrained by Kakashi's ninken. Gato held a dangerous glint in his eyes that Zabuza and Kakashi cannot ignore, and so they faced him, Zabuza still held by Kakashi's ninken.

"It's time to end my contract with you Zabuza. You were taking too long in killing the old bridge builder, so I put my own plans into motion. Besides, I never had the intention of paying you, or your group for the services that I needed. You missing-nin are bad for businessmen like my esteemed self, so once you took care of Tazuna and his guards, I planned on killing you and your men. I've been looking around for your partner as I had been looking for some payback for what she did to my arm, -yes, I now know she's a girl- and I see that she's knocked out over there. Once I get rid of you she'll be a _bonus_ for the best mercenary here, then I'll pass her along to the others. A group of missing-nin is very expensive to hire these days, but a hundred or so hired mercenaries doesn't even come close to that price. It seems that your reputation for being the demon of the mist was a bit exaggerated. Heh, in the end, you're just a little baby demon!" Gato laughed evilly as the mist vanished, revealing the one hundred plus mercenaries that he hired, all armed with various weapons.

As Gato spoke, Zabuza narrowed his eyes until his fury couldn't be contained by the bandages on his face, and he growled when Gato announced what he planned to do with Haku once he was dead. He struggled to turn his face at Kakashi, and then spoke.

"Our fight is over Kakashi, I do not wish to harm Tazuna, his family, and your genin anymore, and that I have no quarrel with you from this point onwards. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a businessman to butcher."

One of the mercenaries holding a straight edge cleaver and had a bandana on his head, laughed as he taunted Zabuza.

"What's this? A heavily injured ninja, thinking he could take on over a hundred mercenaries? You have got to be sh-urk! "The mercenary didn't finish his sentence as a shuriken lodged in his throat and fell down dead. His lifeblood pouring out of his throat through the shuriken wound, courtesy of Kakashi who had a glare of indifference on his eyes.

"If you haven't noticed it yet, I'm still here. All of you and Gato are threats to me and my team, as well as hindrances to the completion of this mission; which is to protect Tazuna and make sure his bridge is finished, (A/N: The last statement was a lie, in case you were wondering.) so you have one minor-injured ninja and one very pissed off, lightly injured, giant-sword wielding ninja to take on all of you. Oh, and let's not forget my very cute, and very ferocious ninken." Kakashi finished his speech as he sent Zabuza a pointed glare, saw him nod, and whistled.

Zabuza nodded once to seal his promise, and the ninken Kakashi summoned relinquished their hold on Zabuza. The ninken retreated to Kakashi's place and growled at the mercenaries. Zabuza then raised his head chopping sword, and grinned malevolently at Gato and his hired fodder.

Gato sweated bullets as his so-called plan was ruined. He didn't know Zabuza was only lightly injured! Taking in account the still standing Kakashi and those dogs, he was screwed. Running back to the throng of mercenaries, he turned his head and yelled at an unarmed man who was wearing a tan coat, sunglasses, a motorcycle cap, and matching goggles.

"Kotogi! Go out to the front and earn you pay! Kill the bridge builder and anyone who stops you!" Gato yelled as he ran to the bridge's unfinished end. The man called Kotogi smirked and said, "Sure boss." and pushed his way to the front of the mercenary army.

Kakashi and Zabuza noticed the commotion as someone said: "Out of the way you pussies. I'm going to the front." Both shinobi concluded that it was a tan-coated man coming to the front of the line. The mercenaries were either giving him a wide berth or being pushed aside and knocked down. The fear coming from some of the mercenaries as they looked at the now revealed coated man wasn't missed by either of the ninja. As one, they both raised their guards up for any surprises coming from this unarmed man.

From his position among the mercenaries, Kotogi raised an eyebrow as he stared at the two men in front of him.

"The boss sure sounded serious when he said that I had to be here, out in the front. You too look like you can give me quite a workout, so if the both of you wouldn't mind, I'm going to slip into something more…_comfortable_." He said as a black visage, like a faded tattoo appeared on his face and body, before a sound like muddy and murky water was heard as the coated man transformed.

A/N: I decided to end this here because of the word count. Rest assured the next chapter will be posted soon. As always please review. Thanks for reading!


	3. Faiz vs Orphnoch, Crimson Smash

The Guardian

By: Aikuchi Shikaku

Summary: Uzumaki Kushina passed on her clan's legacy on baby Naruto before she 'died'. When Naruto was mad enough to access Kyuubi's chakra during the battle for wave's bridge her own fail-safe kicked in, instead gathering the Kyuubi's chakra into a device needing a power-source and turning Naruto into whirlpool's guardian, a Kamen rider. KamenRider!Naruto. NarutoxFemHakuxHinatax? Kamen Rider 555 Elements X Naruto.

Last time on the Guardian:

_"Kotogi! Go out to the front and earn you pay! Kill the bridge builder and anyone who stops you!" Gato yelled as he ran to the bridge's unfinished end. The man called Kotogi smirked and said, "Sure boss." and pushed his way to the front of the mercenary army. _

_Kakashi and Zabuza noticed the commotion as someone said: "Out of the way you pussies. I'm going to the front." Both shinobi concluded that it was a tan-coated man coming to the front of the line. The mercenaries were either giving him a wide berth or being pushed aside and knocked down. The fear coming from some of the mercenaries as they looked at the now revealed coated man wasn't missed by either of the ninja. As one, they both raised their guards up for any surprises coming from this unarmed man._

_From his position among the mercenaries, Kotogi raised an eyebrow as he stared at the two men in front of him. _

_"The boss sure sounded serious when he said that I had to be here, out in the front. You too look like you can give me quite a workout, so if the both of you wouldn't mind, I'm going to slip into something more…comfortable." He said as a black visage, like a faded tattoo appeared on his face and body, before a sound like muddy and murky water was heard as the coated man transformed. _

Chapter 3: Jounin & Faiz vs. Orphnoch and the Crimson Smash

I. Kakashi and Zabuza vs. Elephant Orphnoch.

What Kotogi transformed into was a frightening and intimidating form, a snout too short for an elephant was his nose, while tusks wound down from where his ears were supposed to be, and wound down to the front of his face, his head resembling that of an elephant's with smaller, and rounded-shaped ears which covered the back of his head. His chest and shoulders were covered in diamond patterned armor with ball-like protrusions at the center. His arms were shielded by arm guards reaching from the waist to the elbows with the same diamond pattern, only softer. His feet were clad in the same type of armor as his lower chest, his feet also elephant-like. His whole body was now a dull grey color.

Zabuza and Kakashi didn't know it, but they were staring at a transformed Orphnoch, the evolved form of the human species. And they were going to get a taste of its brute power, speed and strength that are far superior to regular humans.

The Orphnoch's shadow lengthened, and the naked form of the man it transformed from was seen, as it and the Orphnoch looked at the mercenaries behind him.

"Stay out of my way, you useless idiots, or you won't live to see tomorrow. I think I'm going to have a bit of fun with this two before I kill them, and then I'll kill the bridge builder and the other people on that side of the bridge." Said Kotogi as his Orphnoch form stepped forward. One of the more vocal and recently recruited mercenaries opened his mouth in protest, unfortunately. But before he could speak even one word, the Orphnoch slammed its hand inside the mercenary's chest. When it brought out its hand, there was no blood, but a blue flame erupted from the back of the now seemingly dead man's back. The other mercenaries were now shaking in fear, and half of them were now deciding on whether or not to abandon this job if it meant being killed by their monster of a comrade.

Kotogi's human form reappeared on his shadow, which then chuckled. "Heh, I hope that's enough incentive to make you stay out of my way. Remember what I said." Kotogi left his threat hanging, as the Orphnoch now walked away from the mercenary army and ran towards Kakashi and Zabuza. As he was running, the corpse of the mercenary he had killed suddenly got back up, as his body turned to slate gray, which came apart at the limbs, and disintegrated like sand.

The mercenaries gulped and looked at the monster who was running towards the enemy, a murmur of dissent sounded amongst the mercenaries, but it didn't get louder, as such talk would mean that they wouldn't get paid. No mercenary left the bridge, as they watched their transformed colleague charge at the two ninja ahead.

Kakashi and Zabuza watched as the man, who was now a monster charged at them. They looked at each other from the corners of their eyes, never taking their gaze away from the approaching enemy. Finally, Zabuza spoke.

"How's your chakra?" Kakashi lifted up his hitai-ate covering his left eye, revealing his sharingan as he looked at the thing charging at them. Seeing no chakra being used, he sighed as he brought it down his eye again.

"I'll be out of chakra if I keep using my sharingan like this. I can only use one a-rank jutsu before I reach my limit, so I have to make it count. You got a plan?" Kakashi asked as they both had to dodge in separate directions along with Kakashi's ninken, as their enemy had reached their position and punched the spot where they were standing just a second ago, cracking the concrete and sending it flying. Zabuza nodded as he landed, and formed a dozen water clones. He then began the dozens of seals for the water dragon, his concentration never breaking as he spoke.

"You go and distract him with your dogs. My clones will back you up while I do a water dragon. After that I'll take over and you do your attack. Got it?" Kakashi nodded as he whistled at his dogs to get their attention.

"Guys, I need your help, we need to distract or restrain that thing, while Zabuza is sealing for his jutsu. Can I count on you?" Kakashi's ninken nodded as they scattered in a running formation, and Kakashi hopped onto bull's back (A/N: The bulldog). Kakashi sped off towards the Orphnoch as he tied explosive tags on five kunai using a bit of ninja wire. His ninken helped him by herding the Orphenoch to stand at Kakashi's direct path. The Orphnoch couldn't do anything because the dogs were out of his reach, but he couldn't shake them off, and that was all part of their plan.

As Kakashi neared his maximum throwing range, he threw two tagged kunai at his enemy's feet, which exploded upon impact. Kakashi never stopped and threw his remaining kunai, and as the ones before it, the kunai exploded as well, sending a rain of pulverized concrete down at him and causing the area where the Orphnoch was to be engulfed in a cloud of smoke.

Kakashi signaled for bull to stop, and surveyed his handiwork. He had only stopped for a few seconds when the Orphnoch burst out of the smoke and dust, lumbering towards him. Kakashi gritted his teeth and nudged bull forward. As his large ninken ran, Kakashi brought out a kunai and a few shuriken from his holsters. He threw the shuriken at the Orphnoch, but it just bounced off its protective armor and hide. The leaf Jounin gritted his teeth and leapt off bull, the large ninken then stood on its hind legs and jumped at the Orphnoch head-on. The bulldog then butted heads with the Orphnoch while Kakashi slammed onto its side. The arm holding the kunai made a textbook-perfect killing move, and Kakashi drove the kunai at where the Orphnoc's kidney was supposed to be located…

If it didn't bounce off its tough hide.

Kakashi winced as his arm was lightly sprained from the attempt to kill the Orphnoch. It was a good thing though, that the sprain didn't hinder his ability to do hand seals. The Orphnoch then backed away, and its shadow once again displayed his naked, human upper body.

"Nice move, I would have been dead had it not been for my tough skin. You're pretty dangerous spiky, so I'll just-"

"**Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!**(Water Release: Water Dragon Projectile!) Kakashi get out of the way!" Zabuza yelled as he finished the water dragon and held onto the final seal, which rose up from a column of water and slammed directly onto the Orphnoch, the force of the jutsu was magnified because of the large body of ocean water under the bridge. While Zabuza was concentrating to control the water dragon, he yelled at Kakashi once more.

"Kakashi, whatever move you want to pull off, do it now before I lose my focus!"

Kakashi nodded and revealed his sharingan once more, while doing hand seals and focusing his chakra to his arm, he changed the nature of it to an electrical current. Soon, a sound of 'chi chi chi chi' akin to a large number of chirping birds can be repeatedly heard as Kakashi initiated his only original jutsu. The ninken then took off at speeds normal trained dogs cannot reach. Kakashi then started his run as his dogs preceded him.

Meanwhile the Orphnoch was struggling to fight the water dragon and was now soaked with sea water. The Orphnoch then succeeded in crushing the water dragon's head, which made it dissipate. Kakashi's ninken surprised the Orphnoch by skidding in the water and throwing it at him using splashes. Finally five of the ninken, including bull, managed to restrain the Orphnoch by biting its limbs long enough for it to not notice Kakashi charging at full speed, his right arm carrying an electrical current. It was too late to dodge as Kakashi aimed his technique where he knows the heart should be located. Kakashi's ninken jumped away before Kakashi reached the Orphnoch.

"**Chidori!** (Thousand Birds)"

Kakashi thrust his arm and his hand wielding the chidori went through the Orphnoch's chest, but only his fist and wrist entered its skin and a part of its chest. Considering the Orphnoch's bulky and stone-like body, it never did the damage that it intended. Also, even if the sea water conducted the electricity very well and produced a grounding effect, it failed to pass beyond the Orphnoch's skin, and only gave it a mild shock.

The Orphnoch roared and slammed its hands into Kakashi. The force of the blow would have caved the elite jounin's chest in, if he hadn't cushioned the blow with his remaining chakra. However, his breath was knocked out of him as he fell forcefully on the ground and slid ten feet away because of all the sea water making the floor of the bridge slippery.

Zabuza took over as he ran to the Oprhnoch, but not near enough so that it can reach him with a melee attack. He then made four dozen water clones, which was easier to do with all the abundant water around him. The Orphnoch however was pissed off because a chakra-wielding person managed to damage him with a ninjutsu-based attack. He made short work of Zabuza's clones in retaliation for Kakashi's chidori. The clones fought to the last man as Zabuza entered another long string of hand seals, and called out the technique Kakashi used on him in their first battle.

"**Suiton: Daibakufuu no Jutsu!** (Water Release: Grand Waterfall Technique)"

Zabuza called out in a loud voice, as a column of water about twenty feet high circled him once, and a large surge of water coming from the ocean came up to the bridge in a violent wave, sweeping the Orphnoch away and submerging it. The mercenaries who were still at the front line were swept away as well, and several of them were drowned by the power of Zabuza's jutsu while others died when they slammed into the concrete barriers and floor of the bridge. Several had serious injuries while being tossed around under the water. Thankfully for the other mercenaries, the water subsided at the middle of their line, so the others were only wet and some were just water-logged. Gato was in the back of the line so the jutsu did not reach him.

As the mercenaries recovered, Zabuza crouched down and used his sword as a crutch, trying to regain his breath. In his life as a ninja and missing-nin, he had only used two high-draining ninjutsu in succession with each other a couple of times.

Kakashi meanwhile was being helped up by his dogs. The elite Jounin was also trying to regain his normal breathing pattern, and was having some trouble, because his ribs were bruised by the Orphnoch's hands violently slamming into him with the force of a large sledgehammer. Pakkun said that he and the ninken had to go as they didn't have enough chakra to sustain themselves in this world. Kakashi nodded and the ninken pack dispelled to go back to the realm where summons reside. The elite Jounin walked to Zabuza's position and helped the man up. Together the two men watched with held breath as they looked on the prone form of the man turned monster that they were fighting, and hoping they had drowned it.

Both men's hopes were dashed as the Orphenoch stood up. Shaking its head, its human form once again spoke from its shadow.

"Ok, that's it. I'm going to put you out of my misery before you both do some _really_ serious damage on me." The Orphnoch then broke into a run, intending to finish off the first humans who had done some damage to his body.

Zabuza and Kakashi were stunned when the Orphnoch got back up from the grand waterfall technique and charged at them. Both shook off the disbelief, put on their game faces, and readied their defense. Neither man was sure if they could survive another clash with this seemingly invulnerable creature, and were more worried about the fate of their students if they died here, but they wouldn't give up just yet.

II. Faiz vs. Orphnoch: Round One.

The Orphenoch was then kicked in the face by a teenager dressed in a black bodysuit who had grey metal armor, a full helmet, and bright yellow insect-like eyes. The Orphnoch staggered back because of the blow, and the teen looked at the two ninja. The newcomer then nodded at them, flicked his right wrist and hand, and charged at the Orphenoch, which had regained its footing, but judging from its movement, it was clear that the kick managed to hurt the Orphnoch.

Zabuza and Kakashi were once again speechless. The two looked at each other, and shook their heads in disbelief. Kakashi then raised his hitai-ate and looked at the teen that was fighting the Orphnoch through his sharingan. He sighed in frustration and a hint of anger as he replaced his hitai-ate back on his doujutsu. Feeling Zabuza's gaze on him and the unspoken question, he answered.

"Whoever that is, he or she isn't using any chakra at all. But I'm thankful to whoever is inside that outfit for saving us. I don't think I could last for another minute fighting that thing. If I did, I'd die quicker than you can say 'suirou no jutsu'." Zabuza nodded and tried to regain his nerves.

"We should tend to our own students before that army in front of us decides to act on their own, and while they're distracted by that masked teen fighting that monster." Kakashi nodded at Zabuza's suggestion, and separated to where their students were located.

Meanwhile, Naruto was throwing punches at the Orphnoch, who was answering with blows of his own. The two continued to exchange blows, Naruto feeling the Orphnoch's powerful blows while he dodged several of his enemy's punches. Naruto then hit his opponent with a three-hit combo that started with a body blow, a punch to the face, and a kick to the sternum. The Orphenoch was pushed back a good distance, which gave Naruto a chance to crouch down, and run towards his enemy full tilt, dodging the Orphnoch's retaliatory punch and giving it a vicious side kick, which managed to propel the Oprhenoch behind a few rows of the mercenary army. The Orphnoch managed to kill an unfortunate mercenary who was caught off guard, and didn't move in time, causing the Orphenoch to crush the mercenary as it landed on top of him in a squelch of flesh and the cracking of bones.

Naruto took the chance to regain his breath, and turned to look at Kakashi and Zabuza, who had reached their own students while he was trading blows at the Orphnoch, and grinned behind his mask as the two started to see what was wrong with Haku and Sasuke. Frowning, he turned his gaze back at the mercenary's line where the Orphnoch fell

III. Faiz vs. Elephant Orphnoch and its centaur-like form, Round Two.

A few seconds later, a roar sounded and a flash of light was seen, before Naruto saw the further transformation of the Orphnoch. The Orphnoch was now a little higher than the height of the large construction crane that Tazuna and his workers were using, his lower torso was now akin to an elephant's with four large thick legs, the body has lengthened and bulked up while its waist and torso remained the same, the Orphnoch was now akin to a centaur with an upper torso and a quadruped's legs, but in an elephant's size, matching legs, and bulk.

With another roar the Orphnoch charged at Naruto, while the mercenaries scattered in fear, some were screaming like a chicken with its head cut off and running around with no intended direction. A few of them even jumped off the sides of the bridge in order to avoid being trampled. Several were not as lucky, as they were crushed under the Orphnoch's large feet or knocked aside and were injured as they landed violently upon the concrete floor, or the barriers of the bridge.

Naruto wanted to vomit in horror as he watched the mercenaries die, or get injured and bloody, as they frantically got out of the Orphnoch's path. Instead he focused his energy on restraining the Orphnoch as it moved forward. Planting his feet on the ground, he braced himself, and grunted as the Orphnoch hit him dead on. He was being pushed back bit by bit however, because of the Orphnoch's brute strength and the bulk of its body, never mind the power behind each of its four legs.

As Naruto was being pushed back, he turned his head, looked at Zabuza and Kakashi, and yelled in voice that disguised his identity from the two groups behind him.

"Move it! Get out of here, all of you!" Naruto yelled at the group as he turned his head back in an attempt to regain some lost ground, and started pushing the Orphnoch back. Kakashi heeded his advice and started to run, carrying Sasuke in his arms as Sakura and Tazuna followed suit, and cleared the outskirts of the bridge in time. Zabuza however was having trouble in positioning his hands to safely carry Haku, without aggravating her injuries further. Zabuza had no choice but to find some shelter before that thing managed to get through that black-clad teenager's grip. He then spied a large, empty shipping container made of steel, and ran while carrying Haku inside it.

Back with Naruto, the Orphnoch managed to rear back on its hind legs, and extend its front right foot to kick Naruto away from itself. Naruto quickly regained his footing, but was pushed back by the charging Orphnoch, who dragged him to the crane, while Naruto was seemingly stuck on its front right knee. The Orphnoch smashed into the crane with Naruto in tow, and the force shot him straight into a pile of building materials.

IV. Save Haku with the Crimson Smash.

As Naruto, inside Faiz' suit of power armor regained his bearings, the Orphnoch ran to the empty shipping container where Zabuza and Haku were located. It then stomped on the crate, crushing the roof above the two. As the container shook, Zabuza held Haku protectively in his arms as he figured out that the monster somehow got through the black-suited teen. The Orphnoch then kicked the container, and it was tossed several meters away with Haku and Zabuza tumbling inside and hitting the hard walls. After flipping a few times, the now crushed roof of the shipping container became the floor, and Zabuza moved near the door of the container to avoid being crushed by the roof. The Orphnoch managed to follow his movements and continued crushing the shipping container where he held the still unconscious Haku.

Haku moaned in pain as she regained her bearings. Zabuza was quickly alerted as Haku regained consciousness, and asked her if she was alright.

"I'm heavily injured, but I'm still in one piece Zabuza-sama. Where are we?" Haku asked as she coughed because of her fractured and broken ribs. Meanwhile the Orphnoch was still stomping on the shipping container, hoping to kill them with each crushing stomp that it made with its front legs.

"Right now we're inside a shipping container, being crushed to our deaths by a monster that I and Kakashi fought, but couldn't bring down…" Zabuza started to explain how they got into their current situation.

"…then, a black-suited teenager saved our asses. And right now I think that he's…" Zabuza was interrupted when Haku's eyes, which were half-closed during the tale, opened fully.

"Wait, what do you mean a black-suited teenager? Are you saying that Naruto-san is out there, and fighting that thing?" Zabuza was bewildered with that statement and question.

"You mean that black-clad teenager with the insect-like helmet was Naruto?" Haku nodded at her master's shocked and bewildered question.

"Hai, before he transformed to that form, he summoned a red chakra which felt malevolent when I 'killed' Sasuke…" Haku paused as she implied that she put Sasuke into the same death-like state that Zabuza underwent to fool the leaf nin that he 'died'.

"…but then the malevolent chakra suddenly disappeared, and a bright light came from his stomach and surrounded him. When it faded he held something in his hands that he flipped open and docked in a belt that he wasn't wearing while we fought. After he transformed, we resumed our fight and he gave me these injuries, causing me to lose our fight." Haku remembered how she got into the state of her injuries. After a pause, the roof was caved in by a large force, and Zabuza had no choice but to lie down with Haku side by side as the Orphnoch continued its attempts to crush them into a pulp.

Zabuza had tears in his eyes as he looked at Haku, perhaps for the last time before oblivion claimed him. Gathering his resolve, he spoke to Haku as he pulled her closer to his body.

"Haku…if we somehow manage to get out of this situation, you can live your life however and wherever you want from now on. I'm freeing you from your responsibilities, and from my servitude." Haku also had tears in her eyes as she remembered the words that she spoke to Naruto when she thought that she had nothing to live for.

"I think I would like that, Zabuza-sama. I know that we can get through this, however. I have faith in Naruto-san to deliver us from this situation…" Haku drifted off as she finally succumbed to her injuries, causing her to go limp in Zabuza's arms.

"I hope you're right, Haku. I really hope that you're right." Zabuza closed his eyes as he waited for the Orphnoch's final crushing stomp.

Back outside, Naruto finally stood up from his crash site and looked at the Orphnoch busily stomping and crushing his way through a shipping container that he knew was the one Zabuza chose to take refuge in with Haku. Narrowing his eyes, he instinctively knew what to do.

Removing the flashlight-like device from the right device dock on the Faiz belt, Naruto then removed the Faiz mission memory, a small metallic keycard displaying a representation of Faiz' head, from the front of the Faiz phone's flip top portion. He inserted the mission memory on the slot designed to fit the mission memory, which extended the circular part of the flashlight-like device from its main body, which said, **"Ready"** in a digitized voice. Naruto then docked the device, which was called the Faiz Pointer, in an energy holster on his right leg, which was designed to hold the faiz pointer.

Naruto then flipped the Faiz phone open, pressed the 'Enter' button, and snapped it closed. The device then said, **"EXCEED CHARGE."** in a digitized voice, as a burst of photon energy went down the right corner of the faiz driver, down to the red photon streams in his right thigh, passing through his knee, leg, and finally entered the photon terminal on the power anklet greaves, where the energy holster was located. A sound was heard indicating that the faiz pointer was now charged and ready to go.

Naruto then entered a crouching position, and charged at the Orphnoch, which was conveniently distracted and was still attempting to crush Zabuza and Haku inside the shipping container. Naruto then jumped, flipped forwards, and extended his legs. A red, laser-like beam was fired from the faiz pointer, and headed for the Orphnoch. The Orphnoch diverted its attention from the container and looked at the red beam, which now spread into a conical and large red drill. Naruto then extended his right leg, tucking his left leg in, and the faiz symbol on the sole of his right greave emitted the same red light. Naruto then entered the conical drill and left a red circle on top of it. The red circle and the energy drill started to spin rapidly, digging into the side of the Orphnoch's body. As the drill punched through the Orphenoch, it disappeared after a few seconds, leaving the red circle behind. Naruto reappeared behind the Orphnoch with red energy lines (that promptly disappeared), which was now in a frozen-like state. Its body now had a large, black, scorched hole where the faiz pointer's energy drill went through.

Naruto, as Kamen Rider Faiz, had executed his first true rider kick, which was called the Crimson Smash.

Suddenly, a large, diagonal red line went through the circle from the upper right to the bottom left, which completed the Greek letter for phi, the symbol that represented faiz. The Orphenoch then yelled, and exploded in blue flames, as its body fell apart and disintegrated into grey dust. Naruto then wrenched open the door with his enhanced strength, leaned inside, and brought the unconscious Haku out of the shipping container, bridal style. Zabuza also got out, as he looked in awe at the transformed Naruto under the faiz power suit of armor.

Unbeknownst to everybody, a lone person was watching the proceedings, and when he saw faiz defeat the Orphenoch, he growled, and hissed the word: "Faiz…" before he disappeared like he was never there in the first place.

End Chapter.

A/N: As of now I can't accurately describe how Faiz reappears behind an Orphnoch after using the Crimson Smash. Either Faiz was moving faster than the naked eye which the red lines imply, or the red lines indicate that the energy drill rematerializes Faiz behind the Orphnoch, because the energy drill and Faiz went _through_ the Orphnoch. Pick your opinion, as I really don't understand the logic behind it. Then again, it's tokusatsu.

On another note, has anyone noticed that the symbol faiz leaves behind after killing an Orphnoch is similar to the universal symbol for 'NO'?

A/N 2: Well, I didn't imagine that the wave arc would go this far, I hope you're enjoying this story, so please give me some feedback. I think that the arc will finish in one or two more chapters. In the next chapter we'll be seeing the aftermath of the Orphnoch fight, Inari's entrance, Gato's island mansion and fortune, another Faiz vs. Orphnoch battle involving two Orphnochs, and some faiz-related surprises. Also, please vote for the current poll in my profile concerning this story, since the poll will be related to what Naruto finds in Gato's mansion in chapter 4. The poll will close soon, so please vote. Some reviews will be answered on the next chapter.

Again, please review, and give me some constructive criticisms and feedback. Flames will be read, regarded with a truckload of salt, and then deleted. -Aikuchi Shikaku-


	4. Downtime

The Guardian

By: Aikuchi Shikaku

Disclaimer 1: the Kamen Rider Franchise (Specifically Kamen Rider 555) is not mine, and is owned by TOEI and TV Asahi.

Disclaimer 2: Naruto is not mine, nor will it ever be. I'm just playing in Masashi Kishimoto's sandbox. No copyright infringement is being done here, and no money is being made from this story.

Summary: Uzumaki Kushina passed on her clan's legacy on baby Naruto before she 'died'. When Naruto was mad enough to access Kyuubi's chakra during the battle for wave's bridge her own fail-safe kicked in, instead gathering the Kyuubi's chakra into a device needing a power-source and turning Naruto into whirlpool's guardian, a Kamen rider. KamenRider!Naruto. NarutoXFemale!HakuXHinataX? Kamen Rider 555 Elements X Naruto.

A.N: I think some parts of this newest chapter would be boring for some, as team seven begins to debrief each other. The action will pick up in the next chapter, as this chapter is the downtime period for both groups of ninja. I just wanted to warn you so that you know what to expect.

Last time on the Guardian:

_Naruto then flipped the Faiz phone open, pressed the 'Enter' button, and snapped it closed. The device then said, __**"EXCEED CHARGE."**__ in a digitized voice, as a burst of photon energy went down the right corner of the faiz driver, down to the red photon streams in his right thigh, passing through his knee, leg, and finally entered the photon terminal on the power anklet greaves, where the energy holster was located. A sound was heard indicating that the faiz pointer was now charged and ready to go._

_Naruto then entered a crouching position, and charged at the Orphnoch, which was conveniently distracted and was still attempting to crush Zabuza and Haku inside the shipping container. Naruto then jumped, flipped forwards, and extended his legs. A red, laser-like beam was fired from the faiz pointer, and headed for the Orphnoch. The Orphnoch diverted its attention from the container and looked at the red beam, which now spread into a conical and large red drill. Naruto then extended his right leg, tucking his left leg in, and the faiz symbol on the sole of his right greave emitted the same red light. Naruto then entered the conical drill and left a red circle on top of it. The red circle and the energy drill started to spin rapidly, digging into the side of the Orphnoch's body. As the drill punched through the Orphenoch, it disappeared after a few seconds, leaving the red circle behind. Naruto reappeared behind the Orphnoch with red energy lines (that promptly disappeared), which was now in a frozen-like state. Its body now had a large, black, scorched hole where the faiz pointer's energy drill went through. _

_Naruto, as Kamen Rider Faiz, had executed his first true rider kick, which was called the Crimson Smash._

_Suddenly, a large, diagonal red line went through the circle from the upper right to the bottom left, which completed the Greek letter for phi, the symbol that represented faiz. The Orphenoch then yelled, and exploded in blue flames, as its body fell apart and disintegrated into grey dust. Naruto then wrenched open the door with his enhanced strength, leaned inside, and brought the unconscious Haku out of the shipping container, bridal style. Zabuza also got out, as he looked in awe at the transformed Naruto under the faiz power suit of armor._

_Unbeknownst to everybody, a lone person was watching the proceedings, and when he saw faiz defeat the Orphenoch, he growled, and hissed the word: "Faiz…" before he disappeared like he was never there in the first place._

Chapter 4: Downtime.

I. Orphnoch fight aftermath.

Naruto, still transformed as Faiz, looked at the broken remains of the Elephant Orphnoch, as the cold winds, and the sea water from Zabuza's last jutsu dispersed the dust and its still disintegrating body parts, nodding once at its destruction. He knew that he had killed someone, or in the case of the Orphnoch, some_thing_, which had lost its humanity a long time ago. What he didn't like was being indirectly responsible for the deaths and injuries of almost half the mercenary force that Gato had hired. Even now, the bloody, crushed bodies, as well as the severely injured, drowned bodies, and the other bodies in different states of death and injury, were scattered all over the unfinished side of the bridge that pointed towards the mainland. But in the end, he accepted that in every battle, there are always going to be casualties.

His thoughts didn't mean that Naruto was already desensitized on the subject of killing, however. He has just accepted it as a necessary evil, and that he will empty his stomach out in horror and disgust after all of this was said and done.

"Hey brat, you're the orange-wearing kid underneath that outfit of yours, right?" Naruto was startled by Zabuza's question, and figured that Haku told him the truth. He looked at Zabuza through his ultimate finder, and nodded. Zabuza was intimidated by Naruto's stare through the mask, and a frisson of fear escaped his body. The demon of the bloody mist then chuckled.

"Heh, when I first met you and your team, I just dismissed you as a pathetic excuse for a ninja. Now here we are, and you save our asses twice. How did you become so good?" Zabuza finished his question with a raised, hairless eyebrow. Naruto sighed under his mask.

"It's a long story, but I'll tell you about it when Haku's up and about. Right now, we have another job to do." Zabuza raised his hairless eyebrows at him with that statement. Naruto shuddered inwardly, as he discreetly looked at Zabuza's missing eyebrows. He then put Haku down so that his back was resting against the uncrushed part of the shipping container (A/N Naruto still hasn't figured out that Haku is a girl, I'll explain later). Naruto then got back up, and pointed at Gato, who was cowering with fear at the back of the mercenary line.

Zabuza grinned widely, his eyes displaying the same movement, and brandished his kubikiri houcho at the remaining mercenaries, while Naruto leaned over and whispered something in Zabuza's ear. Hearing Naruto's words, he did the hand seals for Kirigakure no jutsu (hiding in the mist technique), and smiled evilly, disappearing easily inside the mist. His disembodied voice chuckled once more, and the mercenaries, plus Gato, pissed in their pants, while inside the mist that Zabuza had created once more.

"Kid, I like your style. You're going to be a fine ninja someday. Hell, you're a fine fighter now anyways. Now give me a minute, and I'll be back."

And then the screaming began.

Naruto looked away as the ultimate finder gave him a clear view of what Zabuza was doing to Gato's men, and for once, he wished that he had never found out about the ultimate finder's limited x-ray vision ability. He then looked at Haku, and said. "Your master has a vicious streak a mile wide, Haku." With those words said, Naruto chuckled deeply.

Meanwhile, Gato was increasingly getting scared at the sounds that he was hearing, and after a minute, it was over. A deathly silence fell over the bridge, and Gato knew at that moment, that the mercenary army he had hired was wiped out, mostly by the one ninja that he now regretted hiring.

Suddenly, a large shadow was cast behind him, revealing a bloody Zabuza, with a matching bloody sword.

"Hello Gato, I believe we have some…unfinished business with each other."

Gato chose this time to shriek like a girl, and fainted as his eyes rolled in the back of his head, while emptying his bowels at the same time. All of this happened while he fell to the ground, like a sack of potatoes.

THUMP.

Zabuza glared at his former employer, and said. "What a wimp." He then cast a wide-area genjutsu (illusion technique) over the area where he knows the remaining mercenaries are located, and used a shunshin(body flicker) that used the water element, to quickly transport himself back to Naruto's location, but still kept him hidden inside the mist. As the body flicker ended, he spied Naruto looking at Haku. Zabuza couldn't tell Naruto's expression because of the mask that he wore, but he suddenly felt protective of Haku for a second, before he dismissed it as a fleeting emotion. Naruto then turned to look at Zabuza inside the mist.

"I know where you are Zabuza-san, so stop hiding. Did you catch him?" Naruto asked as he picked Haku up once again from his resting spot on the shipping container. Zabuza nodded as he held up Gato, who was tied up like the pig he is, and wrinkled his nose at the brown and yellow stains that was soaking through Gato's pants.

"Gato was easy. I didn't have to do anything. He just fainted when he saw me all bloody and such with a subtle genjutsu, the little wimp. The mercenaries didn't give me any trouble at all, but did I really have to leave them alive? And what are we going to do with this coward?" Zabuza asked as he dumped Gato back to the ground. The subtle sleep genjutsu made sure that he never woke up when he landed.

Naruto picked up, and handed Haku back to Zabuza. He then removed the faiz phone from its dock in the faiz driver, flipped it open, and pressed the 'End Call' button. The Faiz armor then emitted a bright light, and reset itself as the photon lines went back into the faiz driver in streams of crimson light. The faiz driver and phone disappeared from Naruto's waist and hand with a thought, and Naruto spoke.

"The battle is over, and I only wanted to intimidate Gato and his men. There's no need for further, senseless bloodshed today." Naruto paused as Zabuza accepted his reasoning with a nod. His respect for the blonde moving up a few notches from before, as he agrees that if there should be killing involved it didn't have to be wholesale slaughter, along with innocent lives of women and children, and other people who can't defend themselves. Naruto then continued where he left off

"As for Gato, I heard that your dream is to conquer Kirigakure no Sato(village hidden in the mist), and get rid of its corrupt, old Mizukage, and the old guard around him. What if I can help you with that by stealing Gato's fortune, together?" Zabuza's eyes widened as he looked at Gato, and looked at him in a new light, as a cash cow. Zabuza laughed heartily as he smiled at Naruto through the bandages covering his lower face.

"Like I said earlier kid, I really like your style." Naruto's cheeks reddened at the first praise that he got outside his circle of loved ones back in Konoha.

II. Inari's appearance: Wave villagers plus a couple of ninja vs. Mercenaries

Suddenly, loud shouting from the wave country side of the bridge was heard by the two ninja. Inari and the villagers of wave were out en masse. Naruto sighed, and mouthed the words _'Don't tell _anyone_ what we talked about.'_ Zabuza nodded, and released the wide area genjutsu, and mist, on the mercenaries, who felt as though they were hit by a sledge hammer in various parts of their bodies. As they got up, they asked each other what had happened after the mist surrounded them, to no avail, as the mercenary that they asked didn't have a clue. Then, as one, the mercenaries looked at their employer, only to see Gato's headless corpse.

With anger in their eyes, they turned back their gaze at the two ninja. Although a few of the mercenaries were wondering who the orange-clad teenager was, and where was he during all the action that happened.

"What the fuck? You killed our meal ticket! Now we're going to raid and pillage that village so we can get our pay!" One of the mercenaries said, conveniently forgetting the skill that Zabuza had shown as a ninja and the pain he was still feeling because of said person. The other mercenaries cried out in agreement, and were becoming louder by the second. They then picked up their weapons of choice and charged, leaving their fallen, injured, and dying comrades behind, trampling over them as they marched forward, cries for the blood of wave country's inhabitants increasing their shouts…

Until a crossbow bolt imbedded itself in their path.

Naruto and Zabuza looked at the group of wave's inhabitants, each carrying a tool that was used in farming, fishing, woodwork, and other purposes, other than as a weapon. Leading the villagers was Inari, who was wearing a helmet made of a small wok. A string was tied to its handles to fit snugly on his chin. Naruto spied the loaded crossbow in his arms.

"Take one step further and we'll show you _why_ this village is called wave country. We're not afraid of Gato anymore, so you'll have to go through us first, before you can raze our country to the ground!" Inari growled, as the crowd behind him took up their arms, and shouted in agreement.

Zabuza and Naruto looked at each other, Naruto then said. "I guess we have to do our part as well." Naruto turned back, faced the mercenaries, and performed his favorite jutsu.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! **(Shadow Clone Technique)"

Naruto was suddenly surrounded by twenty clones of himself. As one, they each drew kunai and a dozen shuriken. Zabuza answered with his own jutsu.

"**Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!** (Water Clone Technique)" Zabuza announced, as twenty clones appeared from the water that was still covering the bridge. In unison, each Zabuza clone and the original drew their swords.

One Naruto clone smirked, and yelled at the mercenaries, as he said: "How about I call back that black-suited masked girl who killed your monster of a colleague? I'm pretty sure that _she_ and Zabuza could make sushi out of all you lot."

The mercenaries, as one, felt a shudder of fear creep up their spines as they remembered what Kotogi was capable of, and then _remembered_ what that masked girl did to him. The mercenary who said that they would pillage wave country, pissed in his pants again, and yelled:

"Let's get the fuck out of here!" The mercenaries left their injured and dying comrades as they retreated, having no purpose to stay, as Gato was dead, and they had met resistance in the villagers of wave country, which meant that this was a lose-lose situation. The mercenaries abandoned their posts as they retreated to the waiting boats either by jumping on the railings of the bridge, descending down on rope ladders, or running back to the unfinished section of the bridge to board boats that were anchored at the bottom of the bridge supports.

As the final mercenary disappeared, Zabuza formed a hand seal, and said, "**Kai!**(dispel/release)" And the dead body of Gato revealed itself to be one of the many mercenary bodies that were on the mainland side of the bridge, only with its head cut off.

Zabuza then dispelled his water clones, and Naruto followed suit. When he dispelled his clones however, he acquired the knowledge of the clone that spoke. Inwardly, he cheered, and planned on experimenting with his newfound knowledge during team seven's remaining stay at Tazuna's house, while the bridge underwent repairs, and finally finished.

As the villagers cheered at their victory over the invaders and persecutors of their land, Tazuna was looking around for someone. Tsunami noticed this, and asked her father what he was looking for.

"Well I was looking for the super black-suited teenager that fought the super-scary and super-strong monster who turned super-monstrously large But the super teenager used a super-special super-attack and super-killed that super-monster." The people within earshot super-sweat-dropped at Tazuna's super-abuse of the word 'super' and the non-stop super rapid fire sentence with no pauses in between, including Zabuza and Naruto (A/N: Damn, he even has _me_ saying 'super' –groans-). Tsunami had a tick-mark on her temple as she whacked her father hard on the back of his head, and the audience laughed as Tazuna face-faulted to the floor of the bridge, because of his daughter's hidden strength.

Naruto helped Tazuna up from his position on the cold concrete of the bridge, and started to speak to Tazuna. "That black-suited masked teenager said to me, that _she_ didn't want any credit for that monster's death. She was also in a hurry, so I let her leave." Naruto said in a straight face, as inwardly he was snickering at his inside joke.

He then turned to look at Inari, and acknowledged him by giving the child a thumb's up. "You did good kid, rallying all these people and not giving in to Gato's tyranny. You're a hero!" Naruto said as he patted Inari's head, which was still under the small wok turned-helmet.

Inari rubbed his finger under his nose to show his embarrassment and pride. "'The hero always arrives at the last minute', eh Naruto nii-chan?" Naruto nodded as the boys both had wide grins, Naruto feeling very happy that someone had called him an older brother. Zabuza took this time to get Tazuna's attention by clearing his throat.

"Tazuna-san, if you don't mind helping out former enemies, who were hired to kill you, can we please go to your house so that Haku's injuries can be treated and taken care of properly?" Tazuna nodded as he started issuing out orders to the returning workers and the stronger men to haul the dead bodies of the mercenaries off the bridge, so that they could be given a proper burial, and look for anyone still alive among the bodies, as those mercenaries with serious injuries and the several who were at death's door succumbed to it, because of their comrades' haste to get out of the battlefield. He then asked Tsunami to escort Zabuza and Naruto back to their house. Tsunami then kissed her son, and motioned for Zabuza to follow him, with Naruto behind the two adults.

As the orange-clad blonde disappeared from view, Tazuna crouched down, and hugged Inari, while telling him that he was proud of what he did, and that Kaiza would approve. Inari tearfully hugged his grandfather back. After a few moments of silent hugging, Inari then told the remaining people of wave, who had no orders to follow about in the bridge, how Naruto saved him from the samurai thugs that Gato hired to kidnap Tsunami, and that they were planning to kill him because he wasn't needed, and after saving him and his mother, how Naruto inspired him to go to each house in wave to gather support, and make them fight for their country.

Tazuna then smiled wistfully as he regarded the blonde ninja who had changed his grandson, and changed wave country for the better.

"He's a hero, isn't he, grandpa?" Inari's muffled voice asked as he buried his face in his grandfather's chest.

"Hai grandson, he is the super, true blue hero of wave." Tazuna grinned as the others nodded in recognition of the blonde boy who turned the fate of wave country on its head. Inspired by his grandson, he began the tale to his people in wave country, of his first meeting with the blonde and his team, inside the Hokage's tower in Konoha …

III. Tazuna's house, and debriefing with team seven.

After twenty minutes of walking, Tsunami, Naruto, and Zabuza, who was carrying Haku, reached Tazuna's house. Naruto accompanied Zabuza, as Tsunami ushered him into a spare room that was used to store the family's odds and ends that have accumulated over the years. It was dust and dirt free as Tsunami had cleaned it a few days before his father arrived, and converted a portion of the room to place a bed in it.

Tsunami then asked Zabuza to lay Haku down the bed, and set out to work on her so she could determine what her injuries are. After examining her limbs and head, Tsunami opened Haku's blue-green heavy coat, and stripped her sweater off, with Zabuza helping her, while Naruto looked on, eager to help or fetch anything. Tsunami did just that, as she made Naruto fetch some bandages, disinfectant, and her jars of prepared healing herbs as well as some hot water. Naruto did just that and summoned a pair of shadow clones to help him gather what Tsunami needed. Thinking for once, he summoned another clone to search for team seven. Thinking ahead again, he made the clone do his version of the henge no jutsu (transformation technique), and ordered him to henge into the same clothing that he was wearing, which confused the clone. Nonetheless, the clone followed the order of its creator with no question. The Naruto clone then went ahead to search for the room where team seven was resting.

As the two Naruto clones and the original moved to fulfill Tsunami's orders, the clone peaked in the door of team seven's room, and saw that Kakashi was in a chair, reading his icha icha paradise, while Sakura was sitting beside Sasuke, who had his eyes closed, but seemed to be breathing and alive, much to the clone's relief. Knocking twice, he opened the door, as the rest of team seven, including Sasuke, turned his eyes on him in unison.

"Hey Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei, are you guys all right?" Asked the Naruto clone as he stepped inside, and sat down on an empty chair.

Kakashi nodded, never turning, nor lifting his head from the book that he was reading. "I'm okay, Naruto. I'm just resting because of mild chakra exhaustion. I also have a minor sprain on my wrist, which will heal in a day or two, as long as I take it easy. Finally, I have a large cut on my chest from Zabuza's sword." Kakashi finished as he showed Naruto the bandages under his Jounin uniform.

Sasuke gave a grunt, while he said. "Don't worry about me dobe, that hunter-nin only managed to place me in a death-like state. Kakashi was able to bring me back to consciousness by carefully removing those needles. Although I need to rest for a week to shake off the shock my body underwent through by 'dying'." Sasuke then gave the Naruto clone a pointed look, which said, 'You owe me.' The Naruto clone nodded, and looked at Sakura.

"Tazuna and I were fine inside the mist, although I was panicking when that black-suited person laid down Sasuke-kun a distance from my position. Tazuna went with me so I wouldn't disobey Kakashi-sensei's orders of protecting him. I really thought that…that…" Sakura sniffled a little as her eyes shined with unshed tears, but quickly recovered. As the other three finished debriefing Naruto, they turned a questioning eye on the blonde.

"Oh, I guess it's my turn now, eh?" The others nodded as confirmation to Naruto's question. Naruto rubbed the back of his head, and started his tale/report.

"Well, I guess I'll start off where I thought Sasuke died. I became so mad that I almost gave in to my anger, and released a bit of this odd-colored, evil chakra. It sort of 'changed' me, but something in my mind told me not to give in, that it was stupid to do so. So I stopped getting mad, then I returned to normal. When I became aware again, that hunter-nin was in front of me, and hit me with those needles to make my body not move. He then kicked me through one of those mirror thingies of his, and I got hurt so bad, and then he carried me to the side of the bridge, and dropped me into the sea. I blacked out for a few moments, but this black-suited girl who wore a weird insect-like helmet with these freaky yellow eyes saved me from drowning. She then removed the needles, and left me to recover from what she said was parali…paralysis I think? After making sure I would heal, she marched to the bridge when I told her that you were still fighting Zabuza and that hunter-nin. When I got up and climbed back to the bridge using a rope ladder that I saw, the masked girl was gone, and I saw that the hunter-nin was injured. I met Zabuza-san, and we scared off those men that Gato guy hired, after the people in wave showed up." The Naruto clone finished, lying through his teeth while telling team seven an altered story of the events between his and Haku's fight, separating himself from his alter-ego, Kamen Rider Faiz.

The Naruto clone knew that even if he told team seven what really happened, Sasuke and Kakashi wouldn't believe it. He did not know where he stood with Sakura, but assumed that she would react like the other two. The Naruto clone knew that if the original wanted to be a decent ninja, and a very good kamen rider, he needed to get out of Kakashi and Sasuke's shadow of influence. Kakashi had the sharingan, and Sasuke needed training from someone who also had the sharingan, and if that trend continued, what with Sasuke receiving one-on-one training, while the original Naruto and Sakura were ignored by their sensei, he knew that Sasuke would leave his original self and Sakura in the dust. So now, if he had to lie to get out of team seven to get stronger, he would, and _had_ done it.

IV. Kicked out.

After the clone finished his story, Kakashi lifted his hitai-ate, and took a good look at the Naruto clone with his sharingan, without putting his book away. Kakashi nodded as he and Sakura told Naruto an abbreviated tale of what happened to their part in the fight.

Kakashi then sighed, and gave the Naruto clone a look of disappointment. The eyes of Naruto's clone widened, as he carefully schooled his expression into one of bewilderment.

"Naruto, despite the fact that you showed remarkable restraint in controlling what you say as 'this odd-colored, evil chakra', the fact that you almost let it out is very dangerous to me, your team mates, and our client. Not to mention what _might_ have happened to the whole village of wave if you had let go and not fought it for control. Also, letting your emotions get the best of you during a mission is unacceptable, as it is one of the rules of our shinobi code. Furthermore, despite showing up at the last minute to help Zabuza drive off the remaining mercenaries once he killed Gato, it still does not hide the fact that you failed to defeat the enemy hunter-nin, after Sasuke almost sacrificed his life to give you a chance to kill him. Weighing all of this in my mind, I have no choice but to call for an emergency team vote, and propose to kick you out of the team." Kakashi explained as he took out a sheaf of papers, and asked Sakura and Sasuke to vote, before he did.

Sasuke voted yes in favor of kicking Naruto off the team, stating that Naruto would only drag him down further during missions, and that compared to him or Sakura, he was a weak ninja with no skills. Sakura was hesitant to vote, but a glare from Sasuke forced her to vote yes as well, although she officially stated that she was doing this under protest. Kakashi put in his final vote, and Naruto's fate was sealed.

Kakashi then made Naruto sign the expulsion form, as Sasuke and Sakura also added their own signatures. After that, Kakashi added his final signature, making the document almost official. Kakashi then used a scroll for minor summons, and sent off a messenger bird, to present Naruto's expulsion papers to the third Hokage for stamping as official and final, which will make Naruto's expulsion as legal and binding, once they get back to Konoha. The messenger bird was also carrying a scroll containing the rough draft of Kakashi's mission report, to be filed officially once they got back to the hidden village.

The Naruto clone then asked if he could go outside for a while. Kakashi nodded, and suggested that Naruto brush up on his tree-walking, so that his next sensei wouldn't have to teach him how to control his chakra. The Naruto clone walked out of the room, catching Sakura mouthing the words 'I'm sorry, Naruto.' in the corner of his eye. The Naruto clone nodded slowly, and walked out of team seven's room. The clone then went down the stairs, and stepped outside Tazuna's home. After making sure that no one could see him, especially anyone from Tazuna's house, the Naruto clone dispelled itself.

V. Haku is a GIRL!?

The real Naruto paused in his climb up the stairs, as he received the memories of the clone which he sent to team seven's room. Naruto sighed at Kakashi's biased assessment of his performance, and was sad at his expulsion from team seven, mainly because of Sakura. Nevertheless, he got what he wanted.

He was now off the team. He could now move on from his failures as a member of team seven, and the most important part, was that he was now out of Kakashi and Sasuke's shadow, and influence.

Now, if he can have a decent sensei once he was back in Konoha, and reassigned to another team who had lost a member, or if a new team could be quickly formed, with him as one of the members, things would finally start changing for the better, he hoped.

He would have cried out loud and screamed his jubilation to the skies, but his current task restrained him from doing so. Especially since he was carrying jars filled with healing herbs. _Fragile_ jars of crushed healing herbs, which were made of glass. He then followed the path of his clones, which had performed their tasks of fetching the bandages, disinfectant, hot water, and some medical tools that Tsunami had stored with the other medical supplies. His clones then dispelled themselves twenty minutes earlier, Naruto getting the info that Zabuza was still inside Haku's room, and that there was nothing particularly off-putting, or embarrassing, for Naruto to see yet.

Naruto walked into the open room that contained the things his clones had fetched earlier, while balancing his cargo he was carrying on his arms. He loudly told Tsunami that her healing herbs have arrived, and looked at what was going on with Haku and Tsunami on the bed.

"Tsunami-san, here are the healing herbs that you asked for…"

He then saw something, make that _a pair of things…_that he shouldn't have seen.

Tsunami was busy with re-bandaging Haku's chest and torso, because the previous bandages had been thrown into a nearby trashcan for disposal later, as Tsunami had to cut them open so that she could assess the damage Haku's ribs had undergone, but not before kicking Zabuza out of the room to preserve Haku's modesty, despite his protests that he had already seen what Haku had in other women thousands of times, which left Tsunami red-faced in embarrassment, and fuming in anger for her fellow woman, causing her to redouble her efforts in pushing Zabuza out of the room. She succeeded, although it was a hard struggle, and slammed the door in Zabuza's face. She then quickly went back to her patient.

While working, she took out a bottle of smelling salts from her apron (which was used on his father in the mornings, after he had gone on one of his rare drinking binges, and needed to wake up early for work.) to wake Haku up, as she could have missed a rib which could be broken or fractured, if she had done the job herself. After setting back her two broken ribs, and after cushioning Haku's body so that her fractured and bruised ribs wouldn't move, she began the preparations to secure and tape Haku's ribs to her chest, so it wouldn't move as much as possible, and to let her ribs heal naturally.

She was so busy in fussing over Haku's injuries, that she missed Naruto's rather loud entrance. Furthermore, in her haste to push Zabuza out of the room, and to get back quickly at Haku's side, Tsunami did not know that the door was still unlocked from the inside, after she had closed it.

Haku shrieked, and told him to get out if he still valued his manhood, in a very loud, threatening, and icy voice. It was a good thing Zabuza had scribed a silencing seal on the room, or else the rest of team seven would have come running in, weapons in hand to deal with non-existent attackers. All of which would have lead to more embarrassment at Haku's expense.

Tsunami was hiding her grin, and trying not to laugh at the embarrassment of the two, red-faced teens. Smothering a snort of laughter, he ushered Naruto out of the room, as the blonde was holding his nose, and covering his eyes, while he was saying "I'm sorry! I'm SO sorry! I didn't see anything! Honest!" repeatedly, as he was embarrassed as much as Haku was.

Naruto managed to turn around in time to see Haku's red face, and teary eyes through the crack in the door. He sighed in relief as the door was slammed shut, and then sighed again, this time in disappointment and anger in himself, as he softly said.

"I'm sorry Haku, I'm so sorry, please forgive me."

Naruto then walked back down the stairs and out of the door to Tazuna's house. He then followed the path of the water from Tazuna's small platform beside the house to a small pond a distance away from it.

Naruto's heart was beating fast from the embarrassment and fear of retaliation, for being caught staring at a woman's chest, and getting pummeled and branded a pervert by the same woman who possessed said chest. He then remembered Haku's red face, and hung his head in despair because of how that scene ended.

"I guess I blew it, then." Naruto said to himself, as he wallowed in self-pity and anger.

"Blew what? And why didn't you invite me?" Zabuza asked from behind Naruto.

"Gyaaah!" Naruto jumped five feet into the air, while still in a sitting position, landed, and turned around to give Zabuza a death glare. He had tick marks all over his face as he screamed at the Jounin-level shinobi.

"Damn it Zabuza-san! You almost gave me a heart attack me when you sneaked up on me!" Zabuza gave Naruto a Kakashi-like stare of indifference, which made Naruto calm down, and start to take deep breaths, calming him even further. Zabuza noticed that some of the light from his eyes had disappeared. He then asked what happened to make him unaware of his surroundings. Naruto realized that _this_ was the person who had seen Haku grow up, had fought with _her_ side by side as missing-nin, and taught almost everything that _she_ knew. He then realized that Zabuza was like father to Haku. Turning red in embarrassment, he halting told Zabuza about what happened in Haku's room.

"H-H-H-Haku's room...w-w-w-went in…with h-h-herbs…t-t-told…Ts-ts-ts-Tsunami…t-t-then I-I-I-I t-t-t-turned…a-a-a-and H-H-H-Ha-Ha-Ha-Haku's a-a-a-a g-g-g-gi-gi-girl! I…I…I…s-s-saw…I s-s-s-saw h-h-h-er b…b-br-bre-brea…b-bo-boo-booo…b-b-b-b-buh…gaaaaah!" Naruto practically screamed, as he threw his hands up in the air. Naruto was so frustrated, that he couldn't properly relay to Zabuza that he had seen Haku's twin orbs.

Zabuza read between the lines of Naruto's stutter, and nodded once. Then he said.

"So, you went in after gathering Tsunami's jars of herbs, and that you were so busy handling them with care, that when you turned to see what was going on in the bed, you saw Haku's boobies?" Naruto nodded at Zabuza, while his face, if it was possible, was two shades redder than when he saw Haku's chest.

"I'm so sorry, Zabuza-s-"

He was caught flatfooted, as the Jounin fell down on the ground beside the pond, laughing his ass off while tears of mirth flowed down from his eyes.

"AHAHAHAHAHA! Oh that is sooo funny! I wish I could have been there to see it! Maybe I should have left a water clone so that I would have seen how red both of your faces turned! It would have looked priceless to capture on film! Ahahahaha-!" Zabuza continued to laugh as he let himself go for a while, as finding reasons to laugh like this were few and far between a missing-nin's life.

Naruto's face turned red in anger, and after a few minutes, hung his head in embarrassment. Naruto then quietly said.

"It's _not_ funny, you know."

Those words made Zabuza rein in his laughter, and took a few minutes to get his laughs under control. As his chuckles finally subsided, he apologized.

"I'm sorry, but I really had to laugh at the situation, I wasn't laughing at you that much though." At Naruto's distrustful look, Zabuza raised his hands in a calming gesture.

"Don't be mad that much, ok? I'm sure you've had lessons at the ninja academy about dealing with the opposite sex, before you graduated to genin, right?" At the shake of Naruto's head, Zabuza asked Naruto another question.

"Has Kakashi ever given you the Jounin version of 'The Talk' yet?" When Naruto said that he was kicked out of that lesson, and that Kakashi had _only_ taught him tree-walking, and nothing else, Zabuza's respect for the copy ninja went down several notches, as he pondered what the hell was Kakashi doing, as he ignored one of his students.

Dusting off his clothes, he picked up his sword, which he had rested beside a tree, and then turned to look at Naruto."

"Well, whatever Kakashi or your teachers at the academy didn't teach you, we have something better to do than dealing with your embarrassment about girls and tits. I've already cleared it with Kakashi, saying that I needed your help with something, and that, since Haku's incapacitated, and his other students are resting along with him, it came down to you to help me." Naruto nodded, and walked with Zabuza to a secluded portion of the bamboo forest bordering wave, to torture a trussed up, pig of a man.

End Chapter.

A/N2: I've decided to end it here, as the word count has exceeded beyond my control. Like I said before, please read and review, and give me some more, detailed feedback. Like: Are my chapters ok? Are they entertaining? Do some parts bore you? Is my grammar correct?

BTW, it's not easy to dumb down Naruto's speech patterns when he was telling team seven what happened to him after Sasuke was 'killed'

Next chapter will be action-packed. I assure you.


	5. Gato's Mansion, Faiz vs Two Orphnochs

The Guardian

By: Aikuchi Shikaku

Disclaimer 1: the Kamen Rider Franchise (Specifically Kamen Rider 555) is not mine, and is owned by TOEI and TV Asahi.

Disclaimer 2: Naruto is not mine, nor will it ever be. I'm just playing in Masashi Kishimoto's sandbox. No copyright infringement is being done here, and no money is being made from this story.

Summary: Uzumaki Kushina passed on her clan's legacy on to baby Naruto before she 'died'. When Naruto was mad enough to access the Kyuubi's chakra during the battle for wave's bridge, her own fail-safe kicked in, instead gathering the Kyuubi's chakra into a device needing a power-source, and turning Naruto into whirlpool's guardian, a Kamen Rider. KamenRider!Naruto. NarutoXFemale!HakuXHinataX? Kamen Rider 555 Elements X Naruto. M Rating for violence, gore, the use of profanity, and future adult situations. Possible MA Rating in later chapters

Last time on the Guardian:

_Dusting off his clothes, Zabuza picked up his sword, which he had rested beside a tree, and then turned to look at Naruto."_

"_Well, whatever Kakashi or your teachers at the academy didn't teach you, we have something better to do than dealing with your embarrassment about girls and tits. I've already cleared it with Kakashi, saying that I needed your help with something, and that, since Haku's incapacitated, and his other students are resting along with him, it came down to you to help me." Naruto nodded, and walked with Zabuza to a secluded portion of the bamboo forest bordering wave, to torture a trussed up, pig of a man._

Chapter 5: Gato's Mansion, Faiz vs. Two Orphnoch, and some surprises.

I. Step One: Torture

Gato woke up, spluttering and coughing from the water jutsu that hit his face, neck, and open mouth. As his eyes adjusted to the low light, he found himself staring at the last person that he wanted to see upon waking up.

"Well, good afternoon gato, fancy seeing you here." Zabuza said nonchalantly, as if discussing the weather with an acquaintance. Gato however, was weary, as he took in his surroundings. The wind then blew, as the businessman suddenly shuddered, and realized that he was naked, except for his boxer shorts, which were still stained with his urine, and feces.

"W-What do you w-want, Zabuza?" Gato stuttered, as another cold wind blew against his body. The fear in his subconscious steadily increasing, due to the situation he was currently in, which only made his mind more susceptible to Zabuza's psychological torture.

Naruto was hidden amongst the tall bamboo, practicing the wind jutsu that Zabuza taught him while preparing the stage for Zabuza's torture of Gato, and focusing its small, but freezing winds on the businessman's exposed body. As he was watching Zabuza mentally break Gato, he was also keeping tabs on their surroundings by using eight shadow clones to patrol the perimeter of the area.

Zabuza's disarming grin never left his face, as he looked at his prey. He then spoke in a patronizing voice.

"Gato, we're both business-minded people here, so I'll get straight to the point: _I want everything you own, and I want the whole lot of it, with no strings attached, and no double-crossing me._" Zabuza changed the tone of his voice, implying that he meant everything that he said.

Gato's eyes were wide open, as he looked at Zabuza in disbelief. "_E-everything I own? _B-b-but-" Gato didn't finish his sentence, as the tip of Zabuza's kubikiri no houcho (head chopping cleaver) touched his stomach, Zabuza had a cold expression, as he eased the tip of his sword's blade into the position of Gato's diaphragm, and pushed it an inch at a time, until the blade pierced skin. Droplets of blood flowed from Gato's middle torso, and dropped to the grassy ground, as the vertically-challenged businessman gritted his teeth in silent protest against Zabuza's actions.

Zabuza nodded, and said. "Good, I was hoping that you weren't a total wimp. Now for a change in pace…" As he nodded to an unseen person that Gato can't see. The businessman turned his head to look at Zabuza's hidden accomplice, to no avail.

Naruto gulped nervously as he looked at Zabuza, who was motioning for him to come out of hiding, and to take over Gato's torture. Sighing in resignation, he decided on a different approach, and used a henge to disguise himself.

Zabuza looked at Naruto as he emerged from his hiding place, using a henge to look like Haku. Zabuza then nodded at Gato.

"I'm sure you've met my apprentice, Haku. I apologize though, as she can't speak at the moment because she's still healing from having her windpipe crushed." Zabuza then motioned for Naruto to start working.

Zabuza had given him a brief rundown of what happened when Gato and his samurai thugs, confronted him and Haku, when he was still recovering from the death-like state that she put him through. All of this occurred while they were looking in the bamboo forests for a clearing suitable for staging Gato's interrogation.

Naruto then pulled out an odd-shaped kunai that Zabuza gave him from hip pouch. The kunai was shaped like a simple can opener, and was a little rough and worn from being used regularly.

Naruto then stuck the kunai in Gato's left arm. Gato yelled at the painful feeling of the rough blade entering his body. Naruto then started moving it downwards, towards Gato's elbow. Gato still wasn't giving in, however. His riches were still valuable to him.

Zabuza sighed, and used a minor healing jutsu to mend Gato's cut-up arm, and the previous wound that he inflicted on the businessman. But to spite Gato he only used a minor spell that knitted skin, tissues, and blood vessels in a very painful way. Zabuza then motioned to Naruto, who nodded, and in two swipes of the kunai, sliced Gato's boxers off, exposing his genitals.

Naruto then drew five pieces of senbon from the pouch that Zabuza said were from Haku's reserves. Before they had woken Gato up, the mist shinobi explained to him the basics of acupuncture, and how certain pressure points affected parts of the body when you hit it either with your bare hands, or the more accurate needles. He paused however, at Zabuza's hidden signal.

"Now Gato," Zabuza started to speak as he signaled at Naruto, who nodded, and slowly poked Gato's average sized manhood with the needle. Zabuza then continued his speech when he saw Gato's eyes widening.

"I see you've figured out that I'm serious, then. My apprentice has been quite adept in mastering pressure points and hitting them precisely, to induce a desired effect in her opponents. However, she has been itching to experiment on the pressure points that produced…other effects on males. She's been hard-pressed to find some willing volunteers to help her with this experiment. Until _you_ came along…" Zabuza's subtle hand-gestures signaled for Naruto to begin inserting the senbon into Gato's genitals.

Ten minutes and four senbon later, Gato was hoarse in screaming out his pain, while his manhood looked like it was being prepared to be roasted by the positioning of the senbon. Naruto then inserted the final senbon, this time it was going to skewer the urethra, the hole where a male/female would normally pee from, and stick it in deep until it disappeared within Gato's manhood.

Zabuza told Gato where the last senbon was going to end up in his penis, and when the pain started, Gato said.

"I'll do it! I'll give you everything that I own, just stop this! I'll sign everything that needs to be signed! I'll do anything that you want!"  
Gato was a broken man as he sobbed. Naruto then stepped aside, and let Zabuza do the rest of the interrogation process. After making sure that every detail was squirted out of Gato, Zabuza knocked him out. Naruto then carefully drew out the senbon that he inserted in Gato's genitalia.

II Step Two: Planning and Preparation.

After dressing Gato back in his suit, and making sure that no lasting damage was done to his manhood, Zabuza turned to Naruto, and told him that they will be staying at another, hidden and abandoned house that Zabuza procured for his and Haku's use, if and when they were betrayed by Gato and his thugs. But before that, Zabuza ordered Naruto to accompany him back to the house where he and Haku had been staying, saying that he needed something stealthier than the 'kill me!' orange jumpsuit he was wearing. Naruto received a glare from Zabuza that said _'You're going to do as I say, or there _will_ be consequences!'_ when he wanted to argue about not wearing orange on their rogue mission. And so Naruto complied silently, somewhat cowed by the piercing glare and the small, and obviously released killing intent from Zabuza.

After retrieving all of Zabuza and Haku's gear from their previous hideout, which thankfully no thug or mercenary had even thought of raiding and ransacking, they then moved to the back-up hideout that Zabuza procured for his, Haku's and the demon brothers' use. Once having settled in, the two shinobi discussed their next move. Some of the discussion was focused on how to find the hidden cove Gato talked about, which housed the yacht that the corrupt businessman used to go back and forth from wave, and also ferried him to a secluded hidden island, that Gato used as his base of operations for his shipping company. As well as the many side businesses that he has. Another discussion was focused on how to plan their entrance, their ransacking of Gato's riches, and then getting out of there with minimal retaliation from Gato's forces.

Zabuza then taught Naruto about sealing things in scrolls for three hours, which thankfully the blonde had amazingly learned pretty fast. Naruto then asked Zabuza if he knew a particular jutsu, and when Zabuza nodded that he knew said jutsu, Naruto pleaded for Zabuza to teach the jutsu to him. Zabuza nodded, and patiently taught Naruto the jutsu, and the blonde teenager made a very good improvement in performing it after an hour passed by. Naruto profusely thanked Zabuza for teaching him the jutsu, which embarrassed Zabuza, who just waved off the thanks, sternly reminding Naruto that the real test in performing the jutsu would be out in the field. Naruto said with conviction that he wouldn't let Zabuza down, and Zabuza accepted that statement with a smile and a nod.

After tying Gato into place, Zabuza ordered Naruto to sleep, as they would wake up very early the next day.

However, the events of the past day, and Gato's torture by his hands, proved too much for the young ninja to handle, and so Naruto reached his limit, vomiting in the bathroom inside the house. When he came out of the bathroom, Zabuza nodded and said he understood. Naruto smiled a little, and headed to his room for some needed shut-eye.

Naruto woke up the next morning when Zabuza nudged him awake, and pointed at the clothes that were laid out on his bed. Yawning, Naruto nodded in affirmation to Zabuza's silent order, and then, entered the bathroom for a quick shower.

Naruto then came back dressed in nothing but his light blue boxer shorts, and put on the full mesh body armor that Zabuza insisted he put on first over his boxers before all the other clothes were worn on top of it. Naruto then dressed up in a skin-tight black bodysuit, which covered the sleeves of his armor, and went down past his elbow, as a tight, and turtle-neck collar covered his neck. The lower arms were then fitted with heavy gray sleeves which were similar to what Zabuza and Haku wore. This was finished with standard fingerless gloves, the large metal plate on the back of the hands, blank. After putting on his upper clothes, the very loose cargo pants came next over the lower part of the mesh armor and body suit, which had multiple pockets for holding various shinobi tools. But this time almost all of the pockets were filled with scrolls that had seals on it for storing non-living cargo.

The scrolls also contained more scrolls sealed inside it, for Naruto and Zabuza believed that they would need a lot of scrolls to store the things that they would find in Gato's mansion. Finally, Zabuza handed Naruto a pair of steel-toed boots, and said that Gato's island mansion had very rough terrain, so it was better for them to be wearing boots than the standard shinobi sandals. Naruto taped the bottom of his pants to his legs, and covered the taped ends with the top his boots, and after tying the shoelaces, his attire was complete.

Naruto then heard a sound, and saw that Zabuza entering his room, dressed in similar attire as he was. The only difference was the sword on his back. With a nod, Naruto got up, and hefted the large, blank scroll on his back. Zabuza then tossed something at Naruto, which was revealed to be a short sword with a matching sheath. At his questioning look, Zabuza said.

"A kodachi is a good sword for a beginner. I would have given you a tanto, but I don't have one at the moment. Besides, that blade is only to be used when you encounter thugs with blades and other weapons, and have to defend against them. Otherwise, use your kunai, shuriken, and those senbon I gave you." Zabuza taught Naruto some basic thrusts and parries for the kodachi, as well as some basic slashes for it. After fifteen minutes, Zabuza nodded, and picked up Gato from where he had hidden the businessman.

After getting Gato to bathe, eat and change into a new suit and boxers(Gato always had an extra with him.), all of which took twenty minutes, Zabuza and Naruto set out to rendezvous with Gato's yacht.

Naruto looked at the sky as they walked, and figured that it was about three in the morning, which was still too early for daybreak, and yawned. Gato was then released from his bonds, as to ease the pressure from his limbs, because of the tie-down that Zabuza performed on him. Zabuza then smirked, and looped some chakra conducting rope on Gato's neck, chest, and waist, then placed a minor genjutsu on the rope, hiding it from prying eyes. Tying the ends of the rope to a hidden band on his arm, Zabuza nudged Gato forward. The businessman gave him a glare, and huffed as he took a step forward, signaling the beginning of their rogue mission.

III. Step Three: Gato's mansion.

After an hour of walking, they reached the hidden cove where Gato's small yacht was supposed to be. Other than the captain of the small yacht questioning Naruto's presence on the boat, which was shrugged off gruffly by Gato, the group began the journey off the island on Gato's orders.

The trip to Gato's island only took thirty minutes, with an additional ten minutes to get the boat properly docked. Finally after five more minutes, they managed to disembark, and the two shinobi surveyed Gato's island.

Gato ordered the captain to stay behind the wheel of the boat, until he got back from retrieving some of the things from his office. Naruto then took a good long look at the captain, and felt that something was off. Signaling discreetly at Zabuza, he created a few clones, with mental orders to only observe the captain, and if possible, subdue him if things got out of hand.

Zabuza, Naruto, and Gato then walked to the front door of Gato's house, and as they opened the door, the eyes of the two shinobi hardened at what they saw.

III a. Double-Cross

A hundred mercenaries stood in the large entrance hall of Gato's mansion. Some were from the original batch that Gato had hired, while the rest were newly hired men, fresh men who were ready for combat at a moment's notice. They were waiting at the entrance hall of Gato's sizeable mansion, armed to the teeth with various weapons. What's more, Naruto can see the captain of the ship, along with someone who looked like a butler, eyeing them speculatively.

Gato then growled, and pointed at the captain directly as he spoke.

"Hakkai, Ishimaru! What the fuck is the meaning of this?!" Gato angrily said as he regarded the now named captain, and apparently, Gato's butler and right-hand man.

Finally, the captain who Gato named as Hakkai, spoke.

"Ah Gato, so nice of you to be 'resurrected from the dead', shall we say. I've been hoping that you would have stayed dead long enough for me to completely take over your company, and all of its…_side projects. _But you've never been an obedient person, always choosing to follow your own path. Well, your journey ends here, Gato. I would have liked to give you a proper grave, so that someone can mourn you, but as it is, you're so incompetent, you can't even stay dead properly!" The captain gave out a belly laugh after finishing his speech, which was mirrored by the butler and the mercenaries. After a few seconds of laughter, he stopped it with a wave of his hand.

"Well, I think its time to end our pleasant chat, so that you can let me and Ishimaru continue on your cutthroat legacy of controlling the shipping lines all over the world." Hakkai then looked behind him, where the darkened hallway revealed three figures, cloaked by the darkness of the hallway.

"Kill Gato and those that accompanied him to this mansion, but make it as clean and as fast as possible. I have a tight schedule to keep." The three silhouettes nodded, and used a shunshin, dropping down from the top of the stairs and in the front of the mercenaries. As this was happening, Hakkai and Ishimaru were already off to another part of Gato's mansion, presumably to discuss something with each other.

III b. Haiena

Meanwhile, the three shinobi that dropped down had wicked snickers on their faces, as if they were about to fall down in laughter by a joke, and that only _they_ knew what the joke was.

The shinobi were all identical, except for the weapons they were holding and the way their hitai-ate were worn on their bodies. All three were male, and had light-brown skin. Their faces were wild, and feral, which was likened to a specific family of canids. Dark brown hair with blonde highlights framed their heads, as well as wild, feral, and amber eyes, which had an insane glint to them. The three shinobi wore spotted fur vests that had a mix of brown and yellow hues. On the right side of their vests were heads of hyenas, acting as a shoulder guard, while their pants had pieces of the same spotted fur, sewed in the same places. Their clothing was completed by brown, standard shinobi sandals. The first one had his hitai-ate on his left bicep, and had a pair of manji-type sai. The second one had his hitai-ate on his waist, acting like a belt, and was wielding a single-headed meteor hammer. The third and last member wore his hitai-ate like Kakashi, but the cloth was draped over his right eye, instead of the left. The third member wielded a pair of ninja-to (ninja sword).

Their hitai-ate had the symbol for mist, and had a slash-mark diagonally from the bottom right to the upper left.

"Zabuza-sempai, (upper-classman) it's uh…heheh…nice to see you again!" The one who wielded the sai chuckled cheerfully.

"Well, yeah, I mean, heheh…we didn't exactly believe that you were still…you know, alive and kicking!" The one who handled the pair of ninja-to smirked at Zabuza.

"Hey brothers, this calls for a celebration, you know! Too bad we're…heheh, going to do it with your corpse as the guest of honor Zabuza-sempai!" The ninja who was twirling his meteor hammer barked in laughter, as his brothers joined him.

As the three laughed, Zabuza was signaling to Naruto via the hand signals that the former mist Jounin's mizu bunshin taught to Naruto's kage bunshin the night before the mission.

'_They're known as the Kirigakure Mitsugo no Haiena _(hidden mists's hyena triplets), _and are the best trackers in mist. They're chuunin level, and had gone rogue six months after I did. Watch out, as their team-work is formidable, and the reason they're b-ranked missing-nin.'_ Zabuza finished signaling as Naruto nodded, and was preparing the hand seals for kage bunshin, when he heard a sound in the air. Naruto jumped, barely dodging the head of the meteor hammer that was speeding towards him, which missed, and hit the door on his back, splintering it.

Zabuza then looked at each of the triplets pointedly, while saying their names one by one, starting from the ninja-to wielder, the sai wielder, and ending with the one who held the meteor-hammer, who had pulled the head of the meteor hammer back to his hand.

"Hisaka, Misaka, and Arisaka, you're more unhinged than ever, I see." Zabuza taunted the hyena triplets.

"Oi oi oi, no signaling while we're laughing! That's just plain rude!" Shouted the one with the meteor hammer, named Arisaka, as he fumed at Zabuza.

"Ne, onii-san (Hey, older brother), can we get this over with? I want to play with Zabuza-sempai's corpse already!" Misaka whined impatiently at Hisaka, as he twirled the sai that he held in both of his hands.

"I suppose we can kill him first, rather than kill that man captain-what's-his-name wanted us to do in, before we make Zabuza-sempai sleep with the fishes. What was that name again? Hmmn…Kato…Mato…Hato?" Asked Hisaka as he scratched his chin in deep thought, then shook his head.

"Whatever! Let's just kill Zabuza-sempai first, _then_ that Yato guy! Let's go brothers!" Hisaka announced, as he made a running bee-line for Zabuza, with his two brothers following in hot pursuit, the mercenaries briskly walking behind them.

IV. Countermeasures

Zabuza then nodded at Naruto, who said "NOW!" in his loudest voice.

The sound of large, breaking pieces of glass was then heard, as thirty of Naruto's kage bunshin stormed their way into the foyer of Gato's mansion through the large, stained glass windows, and sun-roof. As the clones descended, they threw a torrent of kunai and shuriken at the mercenaries, easily killing about twenty of them, while seriously wounding another thirty. Each of the clones then unsheathed their own kodachi as they landed, and quickly formed a wall between Hakkai's hired mercenaries, and the group of shinobi who were about to clash in battle.

Naruto then poked 'Gato' with a kunai, which then exploded into a puff of smoke. The shinobi triplets were clueless as to what happened to Gato, and turned to look at Zabuza and his new accomplice.

Naruto and Zabuza then heard a whistle, and both ducked as an explosion tore the large and heavy front doors of Gato's mansion apart, the debris showering upon the hyena triplets, who shielded their eyes and body with their arms and weapons. Naruto's explosive diversion also managed to damage Misaka's right wrist, due to a stray, metal part of the door that hit the third hyena triplet, who screamed, as the expert hold he was displaying on his right sai was compromised by the damage he received.

As the triplets absorbed the most of the exploding door's debris, the mercenaries also got a good showering as well, with the Naruto clones ducking as if they were thinking the same thing. One large part of the blasted door managed to flatten seven mercenaries, and several more received various injuries of differing seriousness as the explosion also propelled the large block of solid wood that was used to seal the front door.

A long whistle was then heard, which was the signal for Naruto's shadow clones to start tearing the mercenary army apart with their blades. A group of the clones managed to carve their way through the mercenaries, and climbed up the stairs to follow Hakkai and Ishimaru, who had disappeared under the darkness of the still unlit hallway.

IV a. Fight!

The hyena triplets then followed Zabuza and Naruto, who had fled through the sizeable hole on the front door.

Zabuza and Naruto stopped just a few feet away from the beachfront, and drew their respective swords as they slowed their pace, so that the triplets can catch up with them, which did happen after several minutes.

Zabuza nodded once at Naruto, and ran to an open section of the rocky beach, as Naruto ran in the opposite direction. Arisaka chose to follow Zabuza, while Hisaka and Misaka broke up from their triangle formation to follow Naruto.

IV b. Zabuza vs. Arisaka.

Zabuza stopped when he determined that he was far enough from Naruto and his opponents, to prevent the triplets from working together, which was one of their strengths. Arisaka started the fight by twirling his meteor hammer and throwing it in a straight direction, in an attempt to hit Zabuza, who side-stepped the blow, and angled his head as Arisaka pulled the end of the hammer back towards him. Arisaka then twisted his body to the right as he pulled on the head of the hammer, swung it a few times, and twisted his body downwards for an overhead smash. Zabuza barely got the dodge right, and was sprayed with a combination of rocks and sand that littered the beach (A.N: Think of a beach front with large rocks and weathered stones, and barely any sand.) Arisaka wasted no time while Zabuza was shielding his body from the spray, and pulled the hammer back, violently swinging it, and redirected the hammer's spin with the sole of his sandals to a straight attack, the resulting force hit Zabuza head on, as all the air was knocked out from his lungs, and made him stagger back a few feet.

IV c. Naruto vs. Hisaka & Misaka.

Naruto meanwhile avoided a thrust from Misaka's left sai, which was meant to skewer his throat. Naruto then decided to use a shadow clone, but was interrupted as he ducked the overhead slash from one of Hisaka's ninja-to. Naruto realized that he was at a disadvantage here, fighting against two experienced opponents. He needed to even up the odds, or he was as good as dead.

Naruto then sheathed his kodachi, and drew two kunai. Hisaka then looked at Naruto as he changed weapons.

"Oi gaki (brat) are you giving up already?" Hisaka taunted as he swung his pair of ninja-to in a figure eight. Naruto made no response, and formed the cross seal for kage bunshin, and prayed for his tactic to work.

Hisaka and Misaka tensed, when Naruto used an unfamiliar seal, and when nothing happened, they barked like hyenas in laughter.

"W-was that supposed to scare us? That didn't even do anything!" Hisaka let out a mocking laugh as he charged at Naruto once more. This time Naruto was ready, and blocked one ninja-to with a kunai, while avoiding the other by simply angling his neck away from the blow. Naruto then prepared to strike Hisaka in the heart, when Misaka intervened from behind his brother, blocking the kunai with his sai, hooking it on one of the yoku(AN: the sai's prongs) and flinging it away from Naruto's right hand. Naruto then jumped away, with the brothers following suit.

"He's not a brat after-all, if he could block my strike with just a kunai." Hisaka muttered as his eyes suddenly revealed a more dangerous tint to them. Misaka however was still testing his right wrist, and was frowning that he still can't grip his other sai properly.

"Can't we finish him already nii-san? We still have to beat up Zabuza-sempai, and then force him to say where Haku-chan is hiding, so that we can bring her with us when we leave this place." Misaka asked in an urgent tone, as he nervously adjusted the grip of the sai on his right arm, which Naruto noticed from the corner of his eye.

"You're right otouto (little brother), finding Haku-chan, and then _playing_ with her would devastate Zabuza-sempai, ne? (right?)" Hisaka chuckled darkly. Misaka barked a dangerous laugh in response to his older brother's question.

Hearing the conversation made something spark inside Naruto, especially the way they were talking about Haku. As his mind was overwhelmed with a desire to protect her, he repositioned the kunai on his right hand, and drew five shuriken from his holster, and positioned it between his fingers in his left hand.

The hyena brothers tensed up as Naruto ran full-tilt towards their direction. When Naruto was close enough, he jumped, and then threw the shuriken he had on his hand at the height of his jump, which spread into different directions. Misaka dodged backwards, while Hisaka jumped to avoid the kunai, and slashed at the still airborne Naruto, who promptly exploded into smoke, and left a scored rock in its place.

"Kawarimi (replacement technique)?" Hisaka muttered as he landed, and looked around for Naruto's current position.

Suddenly, a scream, followed by a gurgle was heard, alerting Hisaka that a deathblow had been performed on someone.

"N-nii-saaa...rrk!" were the last words that Hisaka heard from his brother, as Misaka's body hit the dense rocky sand of the beach that served as their battleground, a kunai was embedded on his neck with only the ring visible, held by a Naruto clone, while the top part of Naruto's kodachi was visible on his stomach, Naruto's hands still gripping the kodachi in an upwards thrust motion, the blade entering Misaka's body from his back.

The real Naruto was covered in blood, spurting through the wounds that he inflicted on Misaka. As his opponent's dying body fell, he knew at that moment, that he had deliberately killed someone. Although he could justify it as protecting Haku, he really couldn't see it that way at the moment. Gazing intently at the blood on his kodachi that he removed quickly from Misaka's corpse, he looked back at Hisaka's hate-filled eyes.

IV c. Zabuza vs. Arisaka: Round Two

Zabuza stabbed the end of his sword on the ground, while he looked at Arisaka, who was swinging his weapon while sporting a wicked smirk on his face. Arisaka then tensed to go on the offensive once more. Luckily, Zabuza had gotten his bearings back, and held his sword with conviction, repositioning it so he can quickly adjust to Arisaka's attacks.

Zabuza then went on the offensive, and ran at Arisaka with the kubikiri no houcho poised to behead another victim. Arisaka stuck his tongue out and ran away from Zabuza while swinging the meteor hammer. Arisaka jumped, and changed the swing of the hammer, spinning it vertically, and letting go of the chain. The heavy ball of the hammer then sped fast to Zabuza's position.

Zabuza then deflected the head of the hammer with his sword, the impact making his arms shake at the sheer power of his strength and the hammer's speed clashing in that one moment. Arisaka just grinned, and pulled the hammer back with his body, spun it once, wrapped the hammer's chain around his body, and changed the direction of the meteor to another overhead slam.

This time Zabuza was ready, and rolled to the left, anticipating the overhead attack, and was about to charge, when the meteor was again spun by Arisaka, as the chain wrapped around his neck, and his sword.

Arisaka then laughed maniacally, as his insane eyes drew a bead on Zabuza, while constantly pulling on his hammer's chain. The chain was painfully and slowly constricting Zabuza's windpipe, and the sound of cracking was heard on his neck.

"Well Zabuza-sempai, it seems like I've finally gotten the best of you this time! However, don't think that this is only revenge for us. We also wanted to have some fun with you and your apprentice, Haku-chan, before we move on to bigger, and better things!" Arisaka ranted on, while constantly tightening his chain on Zabuza's neck.

"Why don't say anything sempai!? We've gone all though of this trouble just to track you down, after all the hardships we went through to make you feel like we did when our sister was killed. Why don't you say someth-"

The sound of a round object falling to the ground was heard, as another denser thing impacted with the sand a few seconds after it. Then, the sound of a chain falling to the ground a link at a time was audible.

Zabuza rubbed his hand on his sore neck, as he wiped the blood from his sword. He then looked at the headless body of Arisaka, and said.

"Got to thank that brat later, that jutsu saved my hide." He muttered as he looked at Arisaka's head. "You almost had me there for a moment Arisaka, and I respect you for that, although you need to learn to shut up…" Zabuza said with respect and finality in his voice, as he stripped Arisaka's body of his weapons and equipment, deciding to keep the meteor hammer as a trophy. He then sealed the equipment and weapons in a scroll, and sealed Arisaka's head in another scroll after he was done sealing his now dead opponent's equipment and weapons.

IV c. Naruto vs Hisaka.

Naruto dodged as Hisaka, whose insane eyes now turned into ones filled with crazed bloodlust, didn't back off as he constantly rained slashes on Naruto's body, several of which landed on his unprotected arms, and caused Naruto to grunt in pain, but he took it in stride, because if he flinched even for a second, it would lead to other wounds, or worse, his head would be cut off.

The blonde could do nothing but block Hisaka's blows with his kodachi, his newly-drawn kunai, or both weapons when Hisaka got too close. As it is, he was quickly tiring from the fast slashes or the hammer-like swings that Hisaka was throwing at him. The fox inside him quickly healed his wounds, but it wasn't fast enough for the fox' comfort, and red chakra was once again threatening to bubble up from the seal in his stomach, the only thing holding it back was the barrier his mother had set up.

"I'm going to make you pay for killing my brother, you son of a bitch!" Hisaka roared, as he relentlessly cornered Naruto and doggedly kept him at close range. Naruto winced at every slash, swing, and parry that he clumsily intercepted, or blocked from Hisaka's repertoire of moves, a few of them managing to get through Naruto's defense, and ended up cutting him, though not as deeply as the previous ones because of his quick reflexes and the mesh armor he wore under his clothes.

Let's just say he was learning by experience, and leave it at that.

Naruto knew that he was in a bind, and the only hope he had was to tray and go back to the spot where he was standing a minute ago, before he killed Misaka. Slowly, he inched away from Hisaka, who laughed harder. "That's it! Run you pathetic little rat! Maybe I'll spare your life…NOT!"

Naruto's retreating steps led him to Misaka's corpse, which made him trip, and he let out a yelp as he started to fall on his back. Hisaka's maddened gaze was on him, as he tried to skewer the blonde as he fell, his insane eyes filled with glee as he ran towards Naruto.

"DIE!" Hisaka screamed, as he closed in on Naruto's position.

However, he was so focused on impaling Naruto on his swords that he didn't see Naruto's hand seals, and the mouthed words of "Now." That escaped his lips.

A hand suddenly burst out from the ground, and managed to hold onto Hisaka's right foot, making him falter in his run, another hand then tripped his left foot, leaving him disoriented, his speed slowing down dramatically as he neared Naruto.

Naruto used this reprieve to grasp Misaka's pair of sai, and made the cross seal for his most-used jutsu, as he stood up.

"**Kage Bunshin no jutsu."**

Hisaka made an effort to regain his stride, but it was too late, as Naruto's clones intercepted his ninja-to with their sai. The clones used the yoku that were parallel with the weapon's shaft, and with an inexperienced twist, managed to remove the swords from his hand.

The real Naruto then appeared, the handles of the sai striking Hisaka's solar plexus, knocking out the air from his lungs. Misaka then gasped for the last time, as Naruto drove the shaft of the sai that he was holding on his left hand to Hisaka's chest, piercing the bones on his ribcage, and stabbing his heart. Naruto's right sai struck Hisaka's neck, the long shaft of the weapon piercing his jugular vein, and continued to his brain, skewering it and killing him instantly.

Naruto then removed his newly acquired weapons from Hisaka's corpse, the lifeblood spurting from the fatal wounds he had created, covering him in blood, as the body fell to the ground, twitching due to the electrical impulses arriving at a now dead brain.

V. Aftermath

Naruto shakily dropped the pair of manji sai to the ground, fell on his knees, and then on his hands, as the reality of killing enemy shinobi, and thugs/mercenaries/bandits hit him full-force. He then dry vomited as his whole body shook from the shock. Tears poured from his eyes, as his innocence died from killing two b-class missing-nin, and the numerous mercenaries who fell from his clone's blades.

That was how Zabuza found him.

The demon of hidden mist took pity on the boy, patted his head, and walked over to the location of Naruto's clones. After reaching their spot on the beach, he saw that the clones were confused as to what to do with the bodies of Misaka and Arisaka, even after having thought ahead, and stripping the bodies of whatever their creator may need.

"Sever their heads, and seal them inside this scroll. Seal their equipment in this other scroll after you finish sealing the heads" Zabuza ordered as the pair of clones accepted the scrolls that were handed to them, and followed his orders without hesitation, handing the scrolls with the heads and equipment back to Zabuza when they were finished after 10 minutes. The clones then dispelled themselves, while their creator was still seemingly detached from the outside world, as they nodded farewell to Zabuza.

Zabuza sighed, and walked back to Naruto's position. Seeing that the blonde was now in a fetal position, his knees drawn up to his chest, Zabuza grit his teeth, and grasped Naruto's bloody clothes with one hand. He then lifted him up, and said, "Wake up!" in a forceful voice, as he decked Naruto in the jaw with a strong punch

Naruto flew from the force of Zabuza's punch, and landed while rolling in the rocky sand, ending up on the spot where the ocean's surf touched the beach head.

Naruto realized that he was wet all over, and found that he was being swept away by the current that was hitting the beach. He then remembered in the back of his mind how Zabuza decked him in the jaw to snap him out of his catatonic state. In all honesty, he was still in pain from that punch and bruised all over because of his roll in the rocky, beach sand, but thanks to his tenant, it had gone down from a throbbing pain, to a dull ache.

Zabuza nodded as Naruto got up from the water's edge on the beach turf. He then observed Naruto as the teenager walked towards his location.

When Naruto was standing in front of Zabuza, the ex-mist Jounin gave him a questioning look, which said, _'Are you out of it yet?'_ when Naruto nodded, Zabuza, in all of his gruffness, drew the boy into his arms, squeezed him gently a few times, and patted his head. Naruto pouted at Zabuza, but his eyes and mouth held awe and respect for the Jounin. Zabuza then gave Naruto a look, which said _'This did not happen, and if you tell anyone about it, I'm going to deny it.'_ Naruto nodded solemnly, but with a slight smile. After resting for a minute, they set off to go back inside Gato's mansion.

Neither shinobi saw, nor sensed the tentacles coming from an unseen source, creeping towards the three headless, naked bodies that they did not dispose of properly…

VI. Beyond dreams of Avarice. Shocking Surprises. Smart Brain Technologies.

Zabuza and Naruto entered the mansion through the now door-less entrance hall. They saw that the mercenary army was decimated to the last man, and were scattered all over the floor of the mansion. Of the thirty clones, only about eight were still in the foyer, and saluted Naruto as they finished gathering the weapons of the mercenary army.

Zabuza took charge, and ordered the Naruto clones to seal the weapons and equipment of the mercenaries inside a medium-sized scroll that he handed to them, and dump the bodies outside for burning. The clones acted quickly, and mentioned to Naruto that there were still thirteen clones upstairs cleaning house. When Zabuza asked what they were doing, the clones said that they were 'having a chat' with Hakkai and Ishimaru. Naruto grinned, and ran upstairs to see what the clones were doing.

As the clones did their tasks, one of them tugged on Zabuza's sleeve, and asked him a question.

"Is the boss alright? We all felt the shockwaves of him breaking down ten minutes ago." Asked the Naruto clone, the concern for its creator was apparent, as well as the nervousness about asking Zabuza the question. Zabuza told the clone that Naruto entered a catatonic state, in which he was thinking about his first two kills, and the kills that he and the other Naruto clones made on the mercenary army. The clone then said that it couldn't be helped, as whatever a shadow clone experiences, or learns, it is remembered by the user when the clone is dispelled. Zabuza then said that he knows Naruto will bounce back from his nervous breakdown, and that he'll find a way to ease the flashbacks from accumulating so many kills at such a short time. The clone nodded, and resumed his task of dragging the mercenary bodies to the already burning funeral pyre.

Zabuza then ordered the clones to guard the entrance for scavengers and other people that Ishimaru, Hakkai, or Gato might have hired, and climbed up the stairs, intent on finding Naruto and his clones. But before he did that, he pulled Gato out from his hiding place, and dragged him to where Naruto and his clones were situated.

VI a. Assets and Liabilities.

As Zabuza climbed up to the second floor of Gato's mansion, he was instantly assaulted by very high, piercing screams, and followed the sounds to a section of Gato's mansion. The ex-mist Jounin noticed that the high-pitched screams were coming from a large office.

As Zabuza entered, he saw the original Naruto, and about four of his clones shifting around sizeable stacks of paper. Naruto, who had managed to clean off the blood from his body and clothes, waved Zabuza over, and pointed at what he was holding.

"These are the deeds for wave country. Every single paper I am holding here belongs to a business, or residence in wave. I'm planning to give it back to Tazuna for distribution, if you don't mind, Zabuza-san." Naruto asked Zabuza with a bit of hesitation in his eyes. When Zabuza nodded, Naruto smiled at Zabuza, and sealed the papers into a scroll marked 'wave deeds'.

Naruto then motioned to a nearby clone, which saluted and approached his master. Handing the clone a slip of paper, he then said.

"Five, take this key code, and guide Zabuza to Gato's 'smallest' vault." Naruto, and the newly-named five snickered, as five motioned politely for Zabuza to follow him.

The clone then led Zabuza to a vault door that was three meters high and three meters wide. Taking the slip of paper, the clone then entered the combination for the vault, and opened it.

A bright gold light shone from the door as it slowly opened, when the light faded, Zabuza was treated to the sight of hundreds of pounds of pure gold ingots lining the vault.

"Boss wanted to show you this before he dropped the big one on you." Five grinned as he held up a sheet of paper, and cleared his throat.

"As of the last tally, this room contains about a billion ryou in gold ingots." Five said in a gruff, mature kind of way, but couldn't hold in a snort of laughter as he thought about the contents of the other vaults.

THUMP.

Five's grin widened as he saw Zabuza faint in happiness and bliss. Deciding to not use the sleeping salts that the original Naruto placed at his hands, just in case Zabuza did faint, he merely waited for Zabuza to recover from his mind-numbing joy at hitting pay-dirt. Five looked at the wall clock, and counted down to one minute in his mind.

"_Five, four, three, two…"_

Zabuza then stood up ramrod straight from his position on the floor, and hugged the clone, but not enough to dispel it.

"Yahoo! We're rich! We're RICH! WE'RE FILTHY FUCKING RICH!" Zabuza cheered as he released the clone. The clone then raised his eyebrow.

"Excuse me Zabuza-san, but what did you mean by saying _'we're rich'_?" Five asked Zabuza as the eyes of the ex-mist Jounin surveyed the ingots in the vault. Zabuza turned around, and with a wicked grin, poked his finger at five's chest.

"Oh no, I can't possibly take all of these riches. Besides, your boss is the one who really deserves all of it, what with all the emotional baggage he'll carry because of this rogue mission, and the fact that he really came through in neutralizing the resistance that we encountered, as well as killing two of the hyena triplets. However, as he's being _so_ generous, I'll take half of the gold in this room, and your boss will claim the other half, as well as half of the other vaults that you mentioned." Zabuza then snickered as he poked five hard in the chest to make him dispel.

POOF!

This time it was Zabuza's turn to grin as his statement was processed by Naruto's mind. As he counted down to one, he heard the hurried footsteps and panting of the real Uzumaki Naruto.

"Zabuza-san, are you serious when you said that half of Gato's riches are mine?" Asked a panting Naruto who had rushed from Gato's office, all the way to the entrance of Gato's vault. After letting Naruto regain his breath, Zabuza merely nodded. Naruto then stepped in front of a wall, faced away from it, and leaned on the wall as he slid like a boneless invertebrate down the length of it.

"I'm rich, almost beyond my wildest dreams, and this is just ten percent of it." Naruto blissfully said, as he got up and led Zabuza to the second vault, which contained platinum ingots, which costs about three billion ryou. The final vault was filled to capacity with gold coins, and jewelry, costing about six billion ryou.

After the assets were separated, the two quickly sealed their fortunes on the largest scrolls that they brought with them, and then went back to Gato's office.

When Naruto and Zabuza got back, they found 12 clones busily sorting out the stacks of papers in Gato's office. The Naruto clones gave Naruto and Zabuza two pieces of legal-sized paper each, and looked at the account numbers and passwords/pins on the first paper, and a list of legal, none-wave country properties that Gato has accumulated over the years in running his businesses. Looking at the tally below, they shook their heads.

"Idiot Gato and his replacements were too paranoid. Oh well, more for us then." Zabuza chuckled as Naruto agreed with his statement.

One of the clones then caught Naruto's attention, as he looked at the stack of papers that the clone was carrying. After some prodding, the clone revealed that this was the extent of paperwork for Gato's illegal businesses. Slave trading, Drug Trafficking, and other details of Gato's illegal activities were there for the two shinobi and Naruto's clones to peruse. Naruto then asked Zabuza what he wanted to do with the businesses. Zabuza replied that it was better to hand the papers to a higher authority, as some very big fish were detailed in Gato's accounting of his businesses, and that they supported him financially, as well as by recruiting hired muscle for these endeavors. When Naruto asked if he wanted to tackle this after he had ascended to Mizukage, Zabuza said that he was far too inexperienced to handle Gato's extensive illegal organization properly. In the end, it was agreed that the papers were to be released to the Sandaime Hokage, so that appropriate action can be done.

Zabuza then pointed out the obvious to the group.

"What happened to Hakkai and Ishimaru?"

One of the clones pointed at the door behind the office, and said. "Behind that door is a torture chamber. Apparently Gato gets his kicks out of torturing a woman into insanity, and then killing her by strangulation, as he came in her. We were torturing Hakkai and Ishimaru in there, and they gave us much more detailed information, than what we got from Gato. That's why we encountered those mercenaries and the hyena triplets when we got here. They're resting inside, as we think of a more appropriate punishment for them." Naruto and Zabuza then went back to studying the layout of Gato's mansion after Zabuza deposited Gato in the torture room as well. Naruto asked a passing clone if the sub-levels contained anything of merit.

"The dungeons contain women and children, many of which would have been sold off to slavery, as a few will be kept here for…_entertainment purposes_ for Gato and his men. We still need to free them, however." The clone paused, as he pointed out the location of the slave cages. Then he pointed out another part of the basement level.

"We then discovered that this room holds Gato's trophies. The room contains weapons and equipment from the nuke-nin (missing/rogue ninja) that he had hired, betrayed, and then killed. The room also holds some odd things that Gato had kept as his personal collection. There's also a larger transport ship to deliver slaves docked in the underground cavern." The clone pointed out the cavern in the map.

Naruto then ordered the clones to copy every pertinent data that Gato had in triplicate, and sealed inside specially marked scrolls. The soft-copies, which were stored in Gato's computer, would also be copied and the data in the computer erased completely. Naruto then asked Zabuza if he could ransack Zabuza's office. Since Zabuza had inspected the office a couple of times, and had not uncovered anything of further monetary value, he gave the go-ahead to Naruto, who sealed the entire office and the torture chamber inside the scrolls. Zabuza did not want anything that was contained in Gato's office-torture chamber, so Naruto pocketed the scrolls for himself.

Naruto then found a small device which he found out was a music player that relied on batteries and was small enough to clip inside his body suit and/or pockets. Surprised, and very happy with this discovery, Naruto immediately clipped the device on his clothes and immediately started listening to Gato's music collection.

After making sure that Gato's office was completely stripped of anything that had monetary value, they visited Gato's other rooms and sealed its contents inside scrolls. This was mostly mundane items like couches, beds, chairs, and the like, as well as a large collection of paintings that Naruto figured would be counterfeit, and sealed it for the Sandaime to peruse as a gift. Naruto however was awed at Gato's kitchen and sealed anything that could be removed into scrolls. Naruto also found Gato's food stocks, which had just been recently replenished by the chef, who had conveniently taken a day-off along with the kitchen staff.

Naruto then helped Zabuza in planting earthquake tags all over Gato's mansion, so that no one could benefit from Gato's riches. Once that was complete, the two descended into the basement to continue the process of stripping Gato's mansion from top to bottom.

VI b. Weapons, Smart Brain, and the Autovajin.

Naruto entered the combination on the door of Gato's trophy room, and a beep sounded as the doors clicked open. Zabuza was ogling all the blades on display, and rushed off towards them. Naruto however, was looking at the displays of non-bladed weapons, and found a pair of okinawan sai that seemed to call out to him. He sealed the sai onto the scroll that he brought, and continued on. Naruto wandered to the bladed weapons section after acquiring the pair of sai, and sealed a pair of ninja-to that seemed to be special in his eyes and mind, a pair of kodachi that were fitted in a single long sheath, and a straight-edged weapon with no curves, and was razor sharp at all sides except for the handle, and had strange engravings. None of the other weapons appealed to him as much as those four did.

Naruto then looked at the large display glass on the far side of the room, and gasped at what he saw.

Sitting on the display case was a motorcycle, which seemed to call to his Faiz alter-ego. He then called out the Faiz phone. Removing the mission memory, he placed it on the similar symbol atop what would have been the motorcycle's gasoline tank. The mission memory then glowed for a second, and an engine sound, akin to a motorcycle's throttle, was heard. A series of loud beeps were audible as the motorcycle seemingly came to life by itself.

"**Autovajin, Ready."** The digitized voice on the faiz phone said, as the mission memory jumped back to Naruto's hand. The motorcycle then became quiet once again, and Naruto decided to seal the Autovajin in one of his larger scrolls.

As Naruto resumed his browsing, he found a secure briefcase with the name 'Smart Brain' on its front. Deciding to look at it later, he sealed the briefcase in the same scroll as the Autovajin.

Naruto then met Zabuza in the middle of the trophy room, and asked what he had found. Zabuza then tossed a kodachi, a ninja-to, a pair of sai, and a katana at Naruto, which were encased in their respective sheaths.

"Those weapons were made by Salamander Hanzo's long-dead brother, Hattori Hanzo, during his life he was a 7th level blacksmith. Take care of those weapons, as they are very rare and are sought after by collectors and shinobi alike." Zabuza said seriously, as he held onto his own finds, a wicked looking scythe, and a large blade with feathers etched in its face, making it look like a large wing. He was also holding three swords, which Hanzo had also forged during his lifetime. The pair then managed to split the rest of the weapons between themselves, and sealed them inside the scrolls. Naruto then sealed all the scrolls that he found in the room, one scroll in particular interested him, and planned on giving a copy of it to Sasuke.

In another part of Gato's trophy room was a small door, which led to a room holding musical instruments, Naruto mentioned this to Zabuza, who said that he had no need of such things, and so Naruto sealed the instruments in the room into a separate scroll.

After leaving the now ransacked trophy room, Zabuza and Naruto freed the women and children in the dungeons. It turns out that most of them were from wave's population, and were overjoyed to hear that Gato's tyranny was over.

Naruto was so busy freeing the women, that he didn't hear the cries of a wailing baby. He then looked at the crying babe and its mother, and was surprised at what he saw.

VII. Orphnoch Battle

Zabuza and Naruto looked at Gato's island, as the earthquake tags that Zabuza brought leveled the mansion. Naruto was on the small yacht, with him guarding a tied up, black and blue Ishimaru and Gato, while the mother and child were with Zabuza as he guarded Hakkai, who was conscripted to steer the much larger yacht containing the women and children from Gato's dungeon cells. The smaller yacht trailing behind the large one and was tethered to it by a large, thick rope. Gato and Ishimaru were currently knocked out cold after being helplessly beaten by the women in the large yacht.

After thirty minutes of sailing, the island of wave as again visible on the horizon. Zabuza ordered Hakkai to dock the large yacht near the wave bridge, while loudly blowing its horns to alert the people of wave that they were coming.

It was a tearful reunion as families were once again complete, while the others who were not part of wave were embraced by the villagers, and urged to stay in wave to start anew. In the background were Zabuza and Naruto, who had hidden the mother and child that Naruto discovered was a part of a clan in Konoha. As the former prisoners told their loved ones about their plight on Gato's island after being captured, Naruto chose to leave the scene, so that he could be alone once again, if only for a moment.

However, as he walked, he noticed two men following him, their strides filled with purpose and tenseness. Naruto chose the uninhabited bamboo forest of wave to do battle with these men.

"What do you want?" Naruto glared as he regarded the two men with a calculating gaze when he stopped deep into the bamboo forest.

The man with the blue jacket and oblong face then made a come-hither gesture, and said. "We know you have the belt, give it to us."

Naruto then gave the men an annoying smirk, as he rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, it seems that I've become rather…_attached_ to the belt that you're talking about."

The man who was dressed like a biker along with the helmet and bomber jacket growled, and said. "Fine by us, we'll just have to extract it out of your body after we kill you..."

With those words, the two transformed into their Orphnoch forms.

The man with the blue jacket transformed into something resembling a fish, his armored skin had chains running in his arms and legs, while a diamond design was seen on his torso.

The biker transformed into something bulky, had long arms, fists twice the size of a human's head, and the face of an ox, with exaggerated large horns, and large feet. The Ox Orphnoch also had bulky shoulders and also had chains running from its shoulders to its arms.

The fish-like Orphnoch then underwent a secondary transformation, which morphed its legs to a more fish-like form, and then flew upwards into the air.

Seeing the fish-like Orphnoch fly, Naruto summoned the Faiz belt and phone. Opening up the phone, he dialed the henshin sequence by pressing 5, 5, 5, and then the 'Enter' button, the device then said,

"**Standing By"**

In a digitized voice, as Naruto held the Faiz phone in the air, and said.

"Henshin!" (Transform!)

Naruto then docked the Faiz phone to the driver, which said.

"**COMPLETE"**

Initiating the transformation sequence, that allowed Naruto to don the power suit of armor that belonged to Kamen Rider Faiz. Naruto then flicked his wrist, which started the battle as the Ox Orphnoch swung its fists at him.

As the battle progressed, Naruto was busy in dodging the Ox Orphnoch's blows. One blow managed to get past his guard, and made his armor spark as the impact happened, which registered in Naruto's pain receptors.

Naruto then dodged, as the Orphnoch which looked like a Sting-fish swooped down from the air. The momentary distraction was enough for the Ox Orphnoch to give Naruto a double-fisted blow in the face, throwing him a few feet away, and causing him to break a few bamboo stalks.

Naruto then sensed the Sting-fish Orphnoch as it dive-bombed him once more. He was prepared however, as he jumped backwards and gave the Orphnoch an upwards kick, which hit the Orphnoch, and made it fall through the bamboo. Naruto then undocked the Faiz phone from the driver, and dialed 1, 0, and 3. Pressing the Enter button, the Faiz phone acknowledged the code, and said.

"**Single Mode"**

Naruto then adjusted the Faiz phone so that the top and bottom were flush with each other. He then pushed the upper part of the flip phone to the left. The Faiz phone now looked like a high-tech gun in its 'Phone Blaster' mode.

Naruto then aimed at the charging Ox Orphnoch, and pressed the trigger on the side of the Faiz phone. A long beam of photon energy shot out from the phone's antenna, which now served as the barrel of the phone blaster. The Ox Orphnoch gave a loud grunt as he was damaged by the photon beam, which lasted three seconds on its body. 

Naruto then entered another code by pressing 1, 0, 6, and pressing the Enter button. The Faiz phone acknowledged the new code, and said.

"**Burst Mode"**

Naruto aimed the Faiz Phone Blaster at the Sting-Fist Orphnoch, which had conjured its weapon, a trident, from somewhere in its body. Pressing the trigger, the phone blaster fired three short beams of photon energy, all of which hit the Sting-Fish Orphnoch. One beam managed to hit its hand, knocking the Orphnoch's weapon away from its body. Naruto seized this chance, and ran at the Orphnoch. The momentary distraction of its weapon being knocked away was enough for Naruto to deliver a hard side kick to its torso.

The Sting-Fish Orphnoch blinked, as the Ox Orphnoch went back into the fight. Naruto dodged the Ox Orphnoch's blows as the Sting-Fish Orphnoch groaned, and died from the kick that Naruto gave it, bursting into blue flames and disintegrating into ash.

Naruto dodged as he moved further away from the Ox Orphnoch, and pressed the trigger to expend another burst from the phone blaster. The beams managed to hit the Ox Orphnoch, knocking it back two meters. Naruto pressed the trigger again, but the Faiz phone blaster failed to fire out streams of photon energy, which indicated that it was empty.

Naruto then entered the code for the phone blaster's charge sequence, by pressing 2, 7, 9, and Enter. The Faiz Phone Blaster acknowledged the code, and said.

"**Charge."**

The phone played back a sound for five seconds as Naruto dodged the Ox Orphnoch's blows, Naruto then aimed the Phone Blaster at the Orphnoch, and pressed the trigger in rapid succession, firing four bursts of three photon beams each at the Orphnoch, the photon beams knocking it away a few meters further from Naruto.

Naruto then returned the Faiz phone blaster back to its original mode, and docked it once more on the Faiz driver. Naruto then reached with his left hand, and drew out a device which looked like a digital camera out from Faiz belt's left holster, which was shaped like the device itself. Naruto then undocked the Faiz mission memory on the Faiz Phone, placing it on the special slot on the top of the digital camera's lens, which said.

"**Ready"**

A handle then dropped down from the camera-like device, and Naruto placed the camera, which now looked like a knuckle duster, on his right hand. Flipping open the Faiz phone, Naruto pressed the Enter button, and flipped it closed once more. The phone's voice then said.

"**EXCEED CHARGE."**

The Faiz driver then let out a long series of sounds, as a burst of photon energy traveled from the upper right corner of the Faiz driver, which traveled through the photon stream on Naruto's upper body and back, passing through the streams on his shoulder armor, arms, and finally charging the digital camera/knuckle duster, called the Faiz shot, on his right hand.

The Ox Orphnoch eventually got up, and blindly charged at Naruto, who now ran for the Orphnoch as well. As they met in the middle, the Ox Orphnoch swung its arms at Naruto intending for it to be the blow that would kill Faiz. Naruto quickly dodged under the Ox Orphnoch's blow, and drove the Faiz shot hard to the Orphnoch's unprotected body. As all of this was happening, the Faiz shot was producing a series of high-frequency beeps, like the countdown timer on a camera.

The sounds of a clicking shutter was then heard from the Faiz shot, as the high-frequency sounds on the weapon reached its climax, and shot all of its energy through the side of the Faiz shot, that now served as the front of the knuckle duster-like weapon, and through the Ox Orphnoch, the crimson energy covering every square inch of the Orphnoch's body, and producing the symbol of Faiz behind it. As the crimson glow faded, the symbol of Faiz shattered as the Orphnoch was thrown back by the force of the blow, and screamed in pain as it landed, and exploded in a burst of blue flames, and then like the Sting-Fish Orphnoch before it, broke apart and disintegrated into dust.

Naruto successfully killed the Ox Orphnoch with Faiz' Rider Punch, which was called the Grand Impact.

Naruto then removed the Faiz shot from his hands, and walked away from the battleground, as the remains of the two Orphnoch danced with the sudden winds.

End Chapter

Author's Notes: After I wrote BoT: TD, I never thought that I would have the skills to write a big chapter like this (10k plus words). Shameless plugging aside, I hope you Kamen Rider and Naruto addicts liked this chapter, and at the same time, apologize for the long delay. Like the previous chapters, please review, and give me some constructive criticism for this latest chapter.

Also, please take note that this chapter was typed and then published _before_ I checked it for typos and spelling, so expect some errors as you read it. I'm going to polish this chapter and edit it some more when I wake up.

Author's Notes II: I had a poll running on my profile for this story, which asked whether or not to give Naruto, who is also Kamen Rider 555(Faiz) the Faiz Accel Watch, and the Faiz Blaster Naruto early on in my story. According to the results, fifty percent voted that Naruto should grow more as Faiz before I gave him the Faiz Accel Watch and Blaster. Forty percent voted that I should give both to him. And ten percent voted that I should give Naruto the Faiz Accel Watch first, but not the Faiz Blaster. The poll has been closed, and the decision has been made. I guess you won't be seeing Accel Form and Blaster Form for a while.

Next chapter will be another downtime/filler chapter, which will wrap things up in wave, and bring us back to Konoha, where sparks will fly as I give Naruto a dose of teenage angst. 'Til next time then –Aikuchi Shikaku-

Edit 05-29-09: Added a few details and corrected some parts.


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